By Omar Bah
The Standard has been reliably informed that the police have arrested a Senegalese national for an alleged homosexual acts.
“I can confirm to you that a Senegalese national was arrested since last Friday at Kotu for homosexuality related offences. He is currently at the Kotu police station. He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday. He is a tailor,” a highly placed police source disclosed to The Standard yesterday.
According to the source, the man reportedly invited another man, a Gambian, into his house with the intention of sleeping with him. When they were both naked, according to our source, the guest started taking photos. The Senegalese man then grabbed and seized the phone. The Gambian then reported him to the police who arrested him.
Police sources informed The Standard that the man later allegedly confessed to being gay.
He is set to appear in court today.
This is the fifth time since 2008, Gambian authorities are arresting people for homosexuality related offences.
The recent case was in December 2014, when three men were arrested after a police raid while on 23 December 2008, Frank Boers, a 79-year-old man from the Netherlands, was also arrested at Banjul International Airport when officials found him in possession of pornography, including nude pictures of himself and some Gambian men.
A Banjul court found Boers guilty of indecency with those men and sentenced him to pay 100,000 Gambian dalasis (£2,500) in lieu of a two-year prison sentence.
On 10 April 2012, a court remanded 18 alleged homosexuals (16 from Senegal, 1 from The Gambia, and 1 from Nigeria) who were arrested on 9 April at a bar in the Tourism Development Area. They were “charged with indecent practice among themselves at a public place”.
Police PRO said he will provide more details as soon as possible.
