By Nicholas Bass
Corporal Mbara Touray, of 1st Infantry Battalion Yundum Army Barracks who was charged and discharged of treason on Tuesday, denied his involvement in the ongoing alleged treason trial at the Banjul High Court, presided over by Justice Basiru VP. Mahoney.
In his testimony as PW, Corporal Touray told the court that he was called by Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera who expressed his dissatisfaction with the presence of the ECOMIG soldiers, logistic problems of the Army, and lack of promotions within the Army Forces.
He further told the court that the alleged ringleader of the coup, Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera asked him to influence soldiers at Yundum Barracks and to meet Corporal Omar Njie who will give him their operational plans, but Corporal Omar Njie failed to attend the meeting with him,
He also told the court that Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera called him on the 18th of December 2022 informing him of a meeting but he boycotted that meeting.
The lead counsel for the accused persons, counsel L. S. Camara in his cross-examination of PW1 challenged his testimony stating that Corporal Mbara Touray was arrested on the same day with Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera, noting that they were both charged and arraigned before the court on the same despite he denied being involved in the alleged coup.
Counsel L. S. Camara applied for both the charge sheet of the tended before the Lower Court and the amended charge sheet of the alleged coup plotters to be admitted and marked as an exhibit.
Justice Basiru VP. Mahoney admitted the charge sheet of the Lower Court as exhibit DE1 and the amended charge sheet of the High Court as exhibit DE2 before adjourning the matter to the 16th February 2023 for hearings.
