By Amadou Jadama
Lamin S Camara, the head of the defense team in the Ya-Kumba Jaiteh criminal trial on Tuesday continued with the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness.
National Assembly Member Ya-Kumba Jaiteh and her father Yusupha Jaiteh were jointly charged with assault and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
When the case was initially mentioned, they all denied the charges. The prosecution team, headed by ASP Jahateh, called their first witness Ebrima Fadera, a narcotics officer attached at Serekunda police station.
In his cross-examination of the witness, Lawyer Camara put it to him that the parcel of cannabis the narcotics officer claimed was found with Tijan actually fell from the witness himself.
But the witness denied that. “The parcel was wrapped in a white paper. I am the one who picked it. I was there together with Abdoulie A Jarju, my senior,” the witness said.
Counsel Camara further told the witness that all the people who came to intervene almost came from Queens Head Bar and found him struggling to put the suspect in cuffs. The witness said people came from different places and the opposite gate where the suspect Tijan was sitting. He added that before they arrived, they had already put Tijan in cuffs.
Camara put to the witness that he and Abdoulie A Jarju assaulted Tijan before putting him in cuffs but the witness disagreed.
Lawyer Camara further put to him that he is the one who used pepper spray in the crowd while they were struggling with the suspect but the witness replied that he did not even know what is pepper spray. LS Camara then asked the witness about his level of education. “I stopped at Grade 12 at Mayork Senior Secondary School from 2012 to 2015,” the witness said.
“So in your entire school career, you don’t know pepper,” Lawyer Camara quizzed the witness. “I know pepper when you come to the general term,” he replied.
LS Camara further put to him that when Ya-Kumba Jaiteh came out, she was holding a baby and a mobile phone and she identified herself to them as a National Assembly Member. “I don’t know about a mobile but she was not holding a child when she approached us, and I was not aware whether she identified herself as a National Assembly Member,” the witness responded.
Camara then asked the witness whether he was familiar with Queens Head Bar, and what time they arrived there. He said when they arrived there, it was dark. The witness said he is familiar with the name but could not remember the exact time. “However, it was between 9-10pm and there was light,” the witness said. The trial continues.
