| Author |
 Topic  |
|
kayjatta
2978 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 07:18:55
|
I look at death penalty with a lot of scorn, it is indeed a terrible thing. However, two things caught my attention in this case, and I am very uncomfortable to discuss this because it is about someboy's loved one who is killed in a very tragic manner.However:
1. The testimony of the Prosecution witness 9 (PW9) indicates (a)that the victim (may his soul rest in peace) has been in and out of more than seven marriages. Do we know why? Is Ms. Tabara Samba the last of a long line of abused women?
(b)Ms. Samba also attempted to get people intervene between her husband and her in order to save her and her marriage. Nobody heeded her call...
2. The defendant, Ms. Tabara Samba is declared an indigent and so was represented by two lawyers free of charge ( God bless their hearts).But we all know that defending a lawsuit competently requires financial resources.Adequate legal research and investigation (tracking down witnesses, interviews, independent expert opinions...) calls for adequate funds usually not within the reach of indigent defendants.
These facts are very troubling to me , and while I do not know their full implication on the outcome of the trial it bolstered my position on the abolishment of the death penalty.
Meanwhile my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. May his soul rest in perfect peace. |
 |
|
|
Sibo
Denmark
231 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 08:46:38
|
Anna
I´m sorry that I misunderstood you, I see your point now. And I do agree that it is difficult to come up with th "right" punishment for someone who took another human life. |
|
|
|
jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 10:23:26
|
kayjatta, your postings are very informative, could this have been tried under shariah law, what would have been the outcome.
Also how does one classify or qualify as "an The defendant, Ms. Tabara Samba is declared an indigent". |
|
|
|
kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 10:54:10
|
| It means the defendant, who is Ms. Tabara Samba is "poor" (she cannot pay for her own lawyer). In the U.S. usually the State get such people what is called Public Defenders at low cost. Many lawyers do not like to represent such cases because it does not pay enough, hence the concern about the quality of representation. Therefore , the saying "what you get is what you pay for" might be applicable here... |
|
|
|
jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 11:51:47
|
okay we know it as legal aid. but murder is murder, no legal repre can alter the facts
"oil was poured over the husband and as a result he died".
you can only argue on the circumstances that led up to that incident.
things that count against you are based on facts, age, gender, financial, class, social standing.
this seems to be based on facts,
that the oil was hot enough to burn a person to death. as has been stated she was old enough to know what happens when oil hit s the skin. it burns.
what is debatable should she be put to death or life in prison, either way there is a price to pay for this.
it would be interesting to know what she had to say for herself.
One fact struck me she has three grown sons in the services, why did she stay with him, they are no longer dependent on her, she could have left.
Is she claiming years of abuse, NO, is she claiming neglect, NO. It seems strange that she went this far.
|
|
|
|
kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 12:08:47
|
You are right Jambo, but murder is not just murder. There are different categories of murder, for example first degree murder and second degree murder or manslaughter. Look at this quote below for example:
"New York Law School Journal of Human Rights "You've Come a Long Way, Baby: The Battered Woman's Syndrome Revisited" at 117-
118; Walker, L., Terrifying Love: Why Battered Women Kill and How Society Responds (1989) at 48",Rubenstein(2004). |
|
|
|
jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 13:24:08
|
kayjatta, look at the example you gave battered kill, who said she was a battered wife.
as for 1st or 2nd degree, if he was sleeping, then it was not in retaliation? if she boiled the oil, that is pre planned? not accidently, am I not correct. if we stick to the facts this is a clear case, anything else is human interpretation.
but what is clouding the issues are other values, gender, age, lifestyle. |
|
|
|
serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2007 : 15:54:22
|
Death penalty has never been a deterrent; this is a proven fact. What is it good for? Revenge? OK, then we could as well start with vendetta again.
amnesty international has very good informations on death penalty, like the interesting fact that every year more countries abolish it while only four (Gambia, Papua-New Guinea, Nepal and the Philippines) restored it. Some statistics:
90 nations abolished capital punishment totally.
11 nations kept it only for war crimes or crimes after military law.
29 nations abolished capital punishment in practice, but not in the laws.
67 nations still hold on to capital punishment.
Most US death-row inmates are poor blacks, hispanics, American Indians and poor whites. But this is only one of the many, many legal systems with a racial, class and/or gender bias.
I don't mind to play the social and the feminist card: Tabara Samba is a poor woman. Would she be sentenced to death if she was a wealthy man?
Sibo, I understand your anger and your grief. But I think you are a woman, so don't cut your own flesh. I have never heard that a Gambian husband who killed his wife was sentenced to death. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is food for thought.
What Tabara Samba did was absolutely wrong and very cruel, but I don't think that she is a habitual criminal. Maybe she is an impetuous, hotheaded and a little bit stupid woman who acted before she thought. |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11712 Posts |
Posted - 03 Oct 2007 : 01:07:15
|
| Death penalty had been abolished in The Gambia in April 1993. On the 12 August the rulling Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) issued a decree reintalling it again. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
Sibo
Denmark
231 Posts |
Posted - 03 Oct 2007 : 11:22:48
|
Serenata
I do not want her to get killed, I felt bad when I heard that she got the death sentence. But just because I am a woman, does not mean that I have to sympathize with her in this case. She killed a human being in a cruel and cold way. You are right that I am angry, everybody seem to feel so damn sorry for the "poor woman", get real this is not the time to play the feminine cards. I am not cutting my own skin. I am a woman, but I am not going to sympathize with a murder just because she is a woman. |
|
|
|
kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 04 Oct 2007 : 00:16:56
|
| Thanks Sibo, you are absolutely right. I am glad you also feel that killing does not correct another killing...Life imprisonment is enough punishment, and it serves the purpose of protecting the public from the convicted murderer. |
|
|
|
jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 04 Oct 2007 : 10:14:23
|
| another death penalty, this abuse of human rights will have an knock on effect on Gambia's image, watch amensty get involved and highlight these cases to the international world. |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
