Paulin Sanneh, who is an elder sister to John Sanneh, yesterday testified against her younger brother who was charged with threatening violence before Magistrate Colley of the Kanifing Magistrates' Court.
Led by ASP Oley Bobb, she told the court that she lives at Kololi and she is a businesswoman. She said that she shares the same father with the accused. She stated that on the 27th May, 2023, she was with her mother, Fatou Jatta, at home. She went on to say that the accused came to their home on a Saturday night between 11 p.m. and 12 midnight and greeted outside.
The witness posited that the accused started insulting her and her mother. "He accused my mother of being a witch and a bastard. He kept on insulting and banging the door while he was holding a knife and threatened to kill us. In fact, the banging shook the wood which was supporting the roof, which was fixed the following day," she told the court.
She further testified that when she peeped through the glass door, she saw the accused with a knife, and it was her mother who advised her not to go out with her kids. "I was so afraid that I had to scale the fence at the back of my house and ran through the compound of our neighbor. I went to the Anti Crime Unit and reported the matter. They went with me to my home and arrested the accused," she told the court.
Prosecutor Bob showed the witness a knife to identify, which she did. She applied to tender it in evidence. The presiding magistrate asked the accused whether he had an objection to the tendering of the knife. "Yes. I was using the knife to peel a mango. So when I saw the police coming I dropped it down," the accused said. However, the knife was admitted in evidence by the court.
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Under cross-examination to discredit, challenge and contradict the witness, the accused asked his sister whether she heard him insulting her and her mother. The witness answered in the positive.
"Did you see me with a knife?" he asked her.
"Yes. Because it was not safe, I decided to run to the Anti Crime Unit to report the matter," she replied.
"Did I threaten to kill you and your mother?" the accused wanted to know.
"Yes, you did."
"I put it to you that you and your mother had a compound issue with me."
But the magistrate told the accused that the witness did not mention any compound issue in her testimony. The case was subsequently adjourned to the 3rd July, 2023, for ASP Bob to call her second witness.
