By Arret Jatta
The third prosecution witness in the murder trial of Mamadou Bah, accused of killing former UTG student leader Yunusa Mbaye, said he saw the accused run away after his victim fell to the ground, bleeding.
Testifying before Justice Sidi K. Jobarteh, the witness, Ablie Ceesay, a mechanic and resident of Bundung Borehole, said he recognised both the accused and the deceased and had seen them together on the day of the incident.
Ceesay told the court that he had left the garage at around 1pm to get breakfast because he normally does not eat early.
He said while walking towards a nearby shop, he saw Yunusa walking ahead of Mamadou Bah.
“By the time I got closer, Yunusa was already stabbed and I realised that the two men were fighting,” Ceesay told the court.
According to him, Yunusa fell to the ground bleeding and when Bah noticed what had happened, he ran away from the scene.
Ceesay said he then moved towards Yunusa and found about six to seven people attending to him.
He added that people standing in the direction where Bah ran to, later apprehended him because they suspected he must have done something wrong.
The witness said Yunusa was initially placed in a taxi to be taken to hospital, but they removed him because of the amount of blood coming from his injuries.
He told the court that an Audi vehicle parked nearby was later used to transport Yunusa to the hospital.
Ceesay said due to the heavy bleeding, nobody joined the vehicle except him and the driver.
He further testified that Bah was brought back to the scene where people prevented him from leaving.
According to the witness, some individuals assaulted Bah, who repeatedly said he did not intentionally cause the injury and claimed that Yunusa was the one who first attacked him.
He said the beatings became serious, leading them to decide to take Bah to the police station.
The witness added that at the police station, Bah continued denying that he intentionally caused Yunusa’s death and also accused he himself of taking D500 from his pocket.
During cross-examination, defence counsel C. Mendy asked Ceesay whether he personally witnessed the stabbing, to which he replied in the negative.
When asked how he could determine who stabbed who, the witness said he believed Bah was responsible because only Bah and Yunusa were at the junction and they were chasing each other, with Yunusa falling while Bah was behind him.
Ceesay also admitted that he did not know the object used to stab Yunusa.
When asked whether he participated in beating the accused, he answered yes.
The witness also confirmed that he is a mechanic and has never worked as a police officer or medical professional.
The trial continues.
