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Momodou
Denmark
11835 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Mar 2007 : 15:14:54
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IN FARAFENNI ATTACKERS CASE
Lt. Col. Biran Saine Testifies
By Bubacarr K. Sowe
Lieutenant Colonel Biran Saine, Chief of Staff of the Gambia National Guard, on Wednesday, March 21st testified in the treason trial involving Abdoulie Sonko and the state. Sonko is alleged to have taken part in the military assault on the Farafenni Army Barracks in November 1996.
Appearing before Justice Monageng at the High Court, Lt. Col. Saine said in November 1996, he was stationed in Farafenni as Commanding Officer of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Gambia National Army. He said on November 8th, 1996 about 3am while he was sleeping at the barracks, he heard gun shots. He added that he noticed automatic firing and he went to the sitting room to call his commanding officer because he could not walk out as he was not armed. He said he wanted to make a call, but realised that the telephone handset was not working. He said he heard someone saying, “stand there he will use the gate when he is coming out.”
Lt. Col. Saine said he heard noise coming from their guard room and a commercial passenger vehicle (Gele-Gele) was parked closed to the guard room. He said he saw a green and yellow taxi coming into the camp, but spent less time there. As he raised the curtain of his window, he said, he saw an unusual person holding an AK 47 rifle, dressed in a camouflage jacket and cap, with a red band tied to his head with charms and a bayonet hung by his side. According to Saine, the man called his colleague who drove their L200 Mitsubishi pick up with registration number GNA 60 to their armoury where one of the camp caretakers, Lamin Keita, helped the attackers to load arms and ammunition into the pickup and “Gele-Gele.” He added that one of the attackers who held a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) told him he was in Sergeant Bayo’s intake.
Lt. Col. SaIne said from there, they kept on firing inside the camp while one of the attackers brought in two soldiers, stripped off their clothes and ordered them to lie on the ground. Later on he said, the camp’s second caretaker, Manlafi Ceesay was also brought in and asked to join his colleague in loading arms into the vehicles. He said they asked for his hunting gun which was in his room, noting the attackers went with one of the soldiers to bring it.
Testifying further, Saine said he also saw four dead bodies and one injured person, but one of the attackers told him that they are only interested in Yaya, Singhateh, Touray and Bajo.
He said the soldiers who were asked to lie down were woken and ordered to load the anti-aircraft guns which are heavy. According to him, they broke into the military hard ware stores and took uniforms. He said they also entered the fuel store where they fueled the “Gele-Gele” vehicle. He narrated that they ordered him to sit on the back seat of the pick up, where he also saw their communication radio, telephone and drums of light weaponry. Lt. Col. Saine said one of the attackers told him that they were in Liberia, and that they have taken part in Charles Taylor’s “Operation Octopus,” but told him now they were on their own.
As they departed from the camp, the attackers diverted from the main route and still continued firing all over the place. Lt. Col. Saine said as they passed Bao Bolong near Illiasa, the “Gele-Gele) which was in front stopped, and the driver signaled them of an approaching convoy of military vehicles. Saine said they both alighted and one of them asked him to follow him. He said the guy told his colleagues that the soldiers are trying to encircle them. A while later, he said, he knew they were confused and he then signalled the young apprentice from the Gele Gele to come behind him while the driver was running away.
He told the court that one of the men opened fire at the soldiers who also returned fire. Eventually he and the apprentice ran towards the Bao Bolong avoiding the cross fire. Lt. Col. Saine also said that he later met some of the soldiers and they returned to Farafenni.
At the camp, he said, he met Lt. Colonel Peter Singhateh (then a Captain) who told him that they were off loading the weaponry and a folder containing the plan of the attack.
One of the attackers he said was found by the villagers and later brought to the camp and then to the NIA office in Banjul. He said few days later, he went to the NIA and found one of the attackers with a fractured foot in plaster of paris (POP). Lt. Col. Saine said he saw photographs at the NIA belonging to one of the attackers. One of them he said cried, saying that the children in one of the pictures were his and are all in Liberia. The matter was adjourned for the photographs to be tendered as evidence.
The accused person is being represented by Mai Fatty and the prosecutor is A.S Umar.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 34/2007, 23 – 25 March 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11835 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2007 : 13:04:25
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ABDOULIE SONKO'S TREASON TRIAL
By Bubacarr K. Sowe
Mai Fatty, counsel for Abdoulie Sonko, who is arraigned in court for alleged murder and treason following the military assault on the Farafenni Military Camp in November 1996, has urged the state to expedite their prosecution of the case.
Appearing before Justice Monageng at the High Court on Thursday, Mr. Fatty said the matter has been dragging for years. He said the accused has a family. He also said that the accused person cannot be left at the whims and caprice of the state.
Mr. Fatty made these statements after the state counsel, Merley Wood, told the court that she has been unable to get the person who has the pictures that are required as evidence. The trial is adjourned to March 29th.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.35/2007, 26-27 March, 2007 |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11835 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2007 : 13:04:25
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ABDOULIE SONKO'S TREASON TRIAL
By Bubacarr K. Sowe
Mai Fatty, counsel for Abdoulie Sonko, who is arraigned in court for alleged murder and treason following the military assault on the Farafenni Military Camp in November 1996, has urged the state to expedite their prosecution of the case.
Appearing before Justice Monageng at the High Court on Thursday, Mr. Fatty said the matter has been dragging for years. He said the accused has a family. He also said that the accused person cannot be left at the whims and caprice of the state.
Mr. Fatty made these statements after the state counsel, Merley Wood, told the court that she has been unable to get the person who has the pictures that are required as evidence. The trial is adjourned to March 29th.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.35/2007, 26-27 March, 2007 |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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