A 28-year-old man was yesterday sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by Justice E. Jaiteh of the High Court in Banjul for killing one Lamin Darboe at Fajikunda, West Coast Region.
The convict, Bubacarr Darboe on 9 January 2022 was charged with murder contrary to Section 187 of the Criminal Code. He was alleged to have hit one Lamin Darboe with a concrete pillar cement block on his head causing his death.
The convict was arraigned on 30 May 2022 and pleaded not guilty and to prove his case, the prosecution called eight witnesses and tendered the postmortem report of the deceased; the voluntary statement of the convict; cautionary statement and a concrete cement block and other witness statements and the picture of the deceased.
However, on 21 February 2024, the State Law Office filed amended information of manslaughter contrary to Section 186 of the Criminal Code and the convict took his plea again and pleaded guilty.
In his mitigation plea on behalf of the convict, counsel O. Susso stated that the convict had never been found wanting by the court and had made a mistake that he deeply regretted and has carried the weight of the incident.
Counsel Susso added that the convict was a first-time offender and enjoined the court to give the convict a lesser sentence, adding that the convict was an asthmatic patient, which comes with an unexpected attack.
Delivering the judgement, the presiding judge, Justice Jaiteh, alluded to the plea in mitigation made by the counsel for the convict and stated that since the convict was a first-time offender, he would not impose the statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Justice Jaiteh then referred to Section 29 (2) of the Criminal Code which provides that "a person liable to imprisonment for life or any other period for an offence against this code or against any other law may be sentenced to a shorter term."
The presiding judge then sentenced the convict to 10 years and stated that the convict should be taught a lesson to deter others.
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