A D10,000 reward has been offered for any information, leading to the arrest of Yaya Barnard suspected of killing one Ousman Touray in Latrikunda Sabiji.
Ousman Touray,20, was killed on Tuesday 1 August 2023, at around 10pm.
The suspected murder happened near Buffer Zone in Tallinding.
Barnard, who was a friend to the late Ousman, is said to be on the run and, therefore, a fugitive of the law.
The Guardian Intelligence and Investigative Service has already launched an investigation into thesuspected murder.
Investigation conducted by The Voice revealed thatOusman and Yaya were embroiled in an argument over football a day prior to the incident and the argument degenerated into a fight the next day when Ousmanwas stabbed to death.
Eyewitnesses told this medium that
According to eyewitnesses, Ousman’s host and employer, Ida Njie, heard the two arguing and called Ousman Touray to talk him out of the argument but that Ousman later went outside and was stabbed in the neck. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, eyewitnesses recounted. He reportedly succumbed to the injuries on the neck.
His family meanwhile vented their frustrations and disappointment about the handling of the case by officers at the Faji-Kunda police station. Ousman’sfamily said CID Jallow and other officers, handling the case did not keep them posted of the progress or otherwise of the investigation.
The family explained that the police will always respond in the “typical” Gambian police way whenever asked by saying: “We are investigating the matter”.
The family stated: “Any competent or knowledgeable investigator would know that in a case where a suspect has already been identified, a task force should immediately be formed and hunt down the suspect to bring him/her in for questioning,” the family said. “We have reached out to CID Jallow to basically share intel that we have gathered in our investigations and find a way to track down the suspect and bring him in but CID Jallow immediately hung up on us after we told him about who we were without even hearing us out first to see if the information we had to offer would be vital to the case, which was a very unprofessional manner for an officer to behave in, especially for someone at his level. We believe that AIG ModouSowe was the one, who briefed Faji-kunda police, to not talk to us about the case because he and the deputy PRO were the only two people that we reached out to before we began our investigations and asked him to hold a press conference and make an offer of D35, 000 for any information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the murder suspect and AIG Sowe also hung up the phone on us the first time we called. This clearly shows that our CID officers/investigators do not know the importance of public’s collaboration in an investigation, especially in a serious case like this.
We need the public’s help in finding the suspect Yaya Barnard and we are offering D10, 000 for any information leading to his capture. We also would like to highlight the fact that the suspect in this case is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt in the court of law.”
When contacted, AIG Sowe said the police have a public relations officer, who deals with media enquiries.
“I want you to be honest with me. I don’t hang up on people,” he told The Voice. The police, he added, do not shy away from public enquiries.
The Public Relations Officer of the Gambia Police Force, Cadet ASP Muhammed Darboe, denied the suggestion that AIG Sowe was frustrating the murder investigation.
He explained that he was contacted by one ML Faye from the US, who requested for a partnership in the suspected murder case investigation.
“I told him I am a PRO and has no administrative power to broker partnerships,” ASP Darboe stated.
According to him, he linked up Faye and Bojang but that Faye later called him to say the officer, investigating Ousman’s alleged murder was uncooperative.
Darboe pointed out that the police always do their best to unravel crimes.
He explained that AIG Sowe cannot frustrate the murder investigation, considering the experience he gathered in policing over the years. PRO Darboe pointed out that as third in command, AIG Sowe has exhibited seriousness in the murder probe.
He stressed that every private/police partnership must be guided by a signed undertaking.
