Gambia: Defence Closes Foday Barry's Case As Dw3 Ends Testimony

Uzuma Achigbue, counsel for Foday Barry, on Monday, 21st October, 2013 announced the closure of their defence in the ongoing criminal trial involving his client, the erstwhile Director of Intelligence and Investigations at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency {NDEA}, as the third defence witness {DW3}, Ousman Sarr, a narcotic officer, finished his testimony before Principal Magistrate Hillary U. Abeke of the Banjul Magistrates. In his evidence in chief, the third defence witness told the court that he knows the accused person as he was working with him at Holgam in Kanifing. DW3 said Holgam is under the NDEA and that NDEA is under the Office of the President. When asked by defence counsel Achigbue whether he knows one Robert Yaw Danquah, a Ghanaian National, he responded in the positive. "How did you come to know Robert Danquah?" asked counsel. Ousman Sarr said Robert Danquah was an accused person who was arrested and detained in Holgam. He said there was a procedure in Holgam which requires that before any detainee meets with a director, the person should be escorted to the director's office. At this juncture, counsel Achigbue asked Dw3 whether he has ever escorted Danquah to the office of the accused person and he responded in the positive. He added that if he escorts a detainee to the director's office, he doesn't leave him/her alone in the office with the director but would stay.

"To your knowledge, has the accused person ever been part from this standard procedure with respect to Robert Danquah?" asked Achigbue. "No, not to my knowledge," responded the witness. Under cross examination, Dw3 told the court that he was enlisted into the NDEA on the 1st January 2010. When asked by Police Prosecutor, Sub-Inspector Almameh Manga, where he was working before his enrolment to the NDEA, the witness said "I was working with the Gendarmerie."

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