By Landing Colley
Fatoumatta Sandeng, daughter of the late Ebrima Solo Sandeng’s has told the TRRC that it was a devastating moment for her family after the April 16, 2016 incident.
Testifying before the Commission on Tuesday, she narrated that “In the afternoon while I was in my office at Bakoteh Mall, I saw some women running from Serrekunda towards us. I asked one woman what’s happening and she responded that there is a coup and some people have been arrested and there I knew my father and his crew have been arrested.”
She added that in the evening she saw it on Seedy Sanneh platform that Solo Sandeng has been tortured and he is in a critical condition, but she was not sure whether it is true.
According to her, on April 16 in the morning she heard people shouting when Yankuba Jaiteh and her mum came to inform them that Yakumba’s sister who lives in United State saw it on Facebook that Solo Sandeng is dead.
However, she said they demonstrated at Westfield in demand of solo’s body chanting ‘we need solo body dead or alive’ but the time they reached at Kairaba Avenue Paramilitary officers attacked them citing that somewhere beating, injured and somewhere arrested.
“When we arrived at home after the protest, a young man informed us that soldiers are coming to our house therefore, we all packed out of the compound and transfer to one of our neighbours’ compound. We managed to cross the border to Senegal as we cannot continue hiding from Yahya Jammeh and his authorities. Still it was not safe for us as we heard the rumours that Yahya Jammeh had some of his jugglers in Senegal (Dakar),” she said.
Meanwhile, she said her younger sister, Jainaba Sandeng was very close to her father, Solo Sandeng, until now she is emotionally breakdown and she is always admit in the hospital whenever it happened to her. She said the Doctor once advised family that they should not live her to be alone because she thinks a lot.
She said: “If I think about that it hurts me and these are things I see when I sleep. I am sure one of my younger sisters who were two years old at that time could not remember who her father is.”
