During his testimony in court, Mamadou Touray, a police investigator at the Serious Crime Unit of the Gambia Police Headquarters in Banjul, said that the accused, Kumba Sinyan, had admitted to murdering the dead, Momodou Lamarana Jallow, out of self-defense.

Touray described his chat with the defendant when he testified as the Ninth Prosecution Witness (PW9) before Justice Sidi K. Jobarteh of the High Court of the Gambia.

“My supervisor, Foday Conta, called to inform me of an alleged murder case in Bakau and to say that the suspect had been taken into custody. She was questioned, and I was given the case file, but she refuted the accusations. As a group, we entered Bakau’s Friendship Hostel room 111. The team’s officers have taken the necessary actions. Lamarana’s corpse was then transported to the Ndemban Clinic and eventually sent to EFSTH. Then we went to Kumba Sinyan’s house,” PW9 added.

The major goal of their visit, according to the police investigator who testified in court, was to get the garments that belonged to Kumba Sinyan. They tried to do so, but Kumba Sinyan had kept the clothes, thus they were unable to.

He then advised the court that they had decided to go back to their office. He then went on to inform Lamarana’s family about the circumstance. Additionally, he alerted the GCCI office, where he works, of the changes.

“The verbal introduction went on, and eventually Kumba gave testimony and admitted to the murder. She admitted to murdering Momodou Lamarana Jallow, her ex-boyfriend, in self-defense. I took the same crew to her house in the evening of the same day to get the identical clothing she was wearing. We were successful this time because she directly led the way, took the clothing out of her closet, and gave it to me.

The Police Investigator dutifully testified in court that the disputed objects were, in fact, those found in Kumba Sinyan’s house.After receiving this confirmation, prosecution attorney Mammy Sanyang filed a formal request to present the pants as evidence in the case.

However, Kumba Sinyan’s attorney, Counsel Sagarr Twum, objected to several things being admitted as evidence, including some pants, a shirt, a hat, and razor blades.

Counsel Twum argued that the witness who is presently testifying before the court is not the proper custodian of the objects that will be used as evidence. Counsel Twum contended that the proper custodian of these artifacts should be Crime Scene Officer Corporal Samba Bah (PW8).

Counsel Twum objected, and Prosecution Counsel Mammy Sanyang told the court that Counsel Twum seemed to be misinformed about what the crime scene officer’s duties were.

The pants, shirt, cap, and razor blades were not found by the crime scene officer, as counsel Sanyang further stated, as was previously proven in the evidence given.

Then, Honorable Justice Sidi K. Jobarteh accepted the goods as proof. Justice Jobarteh remarked that the witness was the lawful custodian of the things since he and his team had taken them from the accused, Kumba Sinyan, and retrieved them.

The police investigator informed the court during his evidence about their following trip to Kumba Sinyan’s house to grab Lamarana’s (the deceased’s) phone.

The next day, I took the same team to her house. However, this time, the goal is to get the victim’s phone back. after Kumba Sinyan, who has it, told me that she does. When we got to her house, she took us to a room next to her bedroom that looks like a shop but also has a bed and a mattress in it. A black Sonny Experia phone was hauled out by her by lifting a mattress, and she gave it to me. The protocol was followed, and it was given to the crime scene investigator to identify it properly, the witness said in court.

For the purpose of identification, prosecution attorney Mammy Sanyang gave the police investigator the phone.

The police investigator later testified in court that the phone shown was in fact the one that had been taken from Kumba Sinyan’s home.

The phone was officially admitted as evidence after Prosecution Counsel Mammy Sanyang submitted an application.

The witness will be exposed to cross-examination in the subsequent hearing, which Justice Sidi K. Jobarteh set for October 13, 2023.

history of the case.

Young businessman Kumba Sinyan is accused of murder in violation of Section 187 of the Criminal Code (Cap. 10:01 Revised Laws of the Gambia 2009).

The suspect is accused of killing Lamarana Jallow by cutting his stomach with an object on or around September 14, 2022, at The Friendship Hostel in Bakau. This is a capital offense under Section 188 of the Criminal Code Cap of the Laws of the Gambia 2009, which carries a death penalty.