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Gambia: Mam Sait Saved By A Question Mark
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The Daily Observer (Banjul)
20 May 2008
Posted to the web 20 May 2008
Sanna Jawara
Mam Sait Ceesay, a former press officer at the Office of the President, State House, was yesterday cleared of two criminal charges of false publication in a three-and-half months long trial.
Mr Ceesay's discharge and accquital came after a ruling on the no-case-submission, which was filed by his defence counsel, Antouman Gaye, on May 14.
Delivering his ruling, senior magistrate Kayode Olajubutu said the defence counsel relied on Section 166 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to back his submission, while considering the fact that the prosecution had called in four witnesses.
"I have found that there is there is evidence of false publication and broadcasting. The issue however, is who exactly is responsible for the said false publication?"
Magistrate Olajubutu further raised concern as to whether the text [SMS message in the mobile phone] constitutes a publication or broadcast or a request for information.
"Based on all the above, I reached the inevitable conclusion that there is no iota or medium evidence linking the accused with the alleged false publication. Consequently, in the no-case-submission the defence succeeded on all grounds. The accused is accordingly discharged and acquitted on all two counts," he ruled.
According to the senior magistrate, it has been "settled that a question mark at the end of every sentence denotes nothing but a question for information or clarification".
He then added: "I found that Dr Taal (second prosecution witness) was economical in telling the truth.
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In his evidence before this court, he did not state that there was a question mark at the end of the accused person's text message sent to him. Dr Taal being the managing director (MD) of the Daily Observer newspaper, hurriedly published the news with the caption "JT Kujabi replaced" as contained in exhibit A. He was publishing a false and distorted version of the request received from the accused", the magistrate concluded.
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