IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE GAMBIA HOLDEN AT BANJUL

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In my humble view the 6 issues formulated by the Prosecution can be subsumed into four namely: • Whether the accused caused the death of the deceased Amie Bah • Whether the killing was unlawful • Whether the accused had the intention to cause her bodily harm • Whether the retraction by the 1 st confessional statement Exhibit ‘Q’ is material. Accused of his ISSUE 1 Let me repeat that there is no eye witness or witnesses in this case so such method of Proof is not available to the Prosecution. To the Prosecution, the evidence are both confessional Exhibit ‘Q’ and circumstantial that the accused caused the death of the deceased. To the defence as per page 1 of their argument “……… The evidence against the accused persons are mainly circumstantial that are not strong enough to establish the guilt of the Accused person”.
S. 31(1) of the Evidence Act 1994 define confession as a voluntary admission made at anytime by a person charged with a crime, stating or suggesting the inference that he committed that crime. Exhibit ‘Q’ the voluntary statement of the accused dated 25-9-2009 is in two parts. The second past is titled “ADDITIONAL ST<strong>AT</strong>EMENT”. The first part is comprehensive as to how the deceased was killed and disposed off sole by the accused person. The 2 nd part deals essentially on how the 2 nd Accused assisted him to dispose the body of the deceased. This will be considered in Count 2. The law is trite that a free and voluntary confessional statement alone properly taken, tendered and admitted and proved to be true is sufficient to support a conviction provided it satisfies the 6 tests enunciated in R V SYKES (1993) 8 Cr. APP. Report 333. OBASI V ST<strong>AT</strong>E Supra at 398. The 6 tests to look out for in a confessional statement can be summarise as follows: • Is there anything outside the confession to show that it is true? • Is it corroborated?
Page 1 and 2: IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE GAMBIA HOL
Page 3 and 4: her when she called again in the ho
Page 5 and 6: Amie Bah by hitting her on the neck
Page 7: • Where there exists knowledge th
Page 11 and 12: In Exhibit ‘Q’ the accused said
Page 13 and 14: deceased with his wrist silver bang
Page 15 and 16: not true. I asked her about that an
Page 17 and 18: The statement of the Accused has be
Page 19 and 20: S.202 CC. “Any person who becomes
Page 21 and 22: Furthermore, it is contended on beh
Page 23: Sentence: Court:- 1 st Accused you

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE GAMBIA HOLDEN AT BANJUL

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