Principal Magistrate Anna O. Mendy of BrikamaMagistrates’ Court Tuesday ordered the release of remanded young men from Manduarr and Marakissa Villages, having granted them bail.
The ten young men from the two villages were remanded by the Principal magistrate for alleged disobedience of lawful order given by the police high command of the West Coast Region.
The youth were arrested in contravention to section 116 of the criminal code of the Gambia 2009.
The state was represented by E.R Dougan, while the accused persons were represented by counsel Solomon C. Jatta, on behalf of senior counsel Borry Touray.
Counsel Jatta presented to the court that the defense had filed an application seeking bail for all the accused persons on the 15 April 2024. He further asked to know whether their application was opposed by the state.
However, ER Dougan rose and replied that the state was not opposing to the application made by the defense.
In her ruling, the principal magistrate Anna O. Mendy, reference to section 99(1) and section 90 and 64 of CPC.
The court granted the application made by the defense and granted bail to the ten accused persons in the sum of D200,000.00 each with two Gambian sureties. The accused persons were conditioned to deposit all their national and travelling documents to the registrar were ordered not to leave the jurisdiction of the Gambia pending the determination of the case.
Meanwhile, the indictment alleged that BubacarrA. Sowe and nine others deliberately disobeyed the order of the West Coast police commissioner, Kallilu Njie, who ordered the maintenance of peace by restraining individuals from interfering with the conflict area of the land situated at Manduar. It added that the accused persons were using insulting and abusive language against each other, which resulted in commotion. These alleged incidents happened on the 6th of April at ManduarVillage, Kombo Central, West Coast Region of the Republic of The Gambia.
All the accused persons pleaded not guilty to charges preferred against them. The matter was adjourned to the 18th of April 2024 for commencement of the trial.
