The accused, 51, yesterday pleaded not guilty to all the three counts before a high court judge in Banjul when he appears for the third time.
The ‘local security man’ [name withheld] is accused of raping her daughter [name withheld] and then killing their newborn daughter by strangling the baby with his hands.
His plea-taking came after the judge insisted on the previous sittings that the accused will not enter his plea without a legal counsel taking into consideration the gravity of the offences he was alleged to have committed.
He ordered twice that a counsel from Legal Aid should take up the case after the accused said he could not ‘afford a legal counsel’. He appeared on two occasions without a lawyer until yesterday when he was represented by M Mbuja from the Legal Aid. The state was represented by the director of public prosecution, Saleh Barkun who will prosecute the case.
The accused was arrested in March and arraigned before the same judge on June 13 this year. The trial is adjourned till July 21 for hearing.
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