(JollofNews) — Gambian police have exonerated soldiers from the killing of a 27-year-old Red Cross volunteer in Manjai.
Ya Binta Jarju of Banjul, a volunteer at the Banjul branch of the Gambia Red Cross Society, who also worked as a cashier at Comfort Neon Sign, was killed on 7th March 2015 after a local taxi she hired with her boyfriend was fired upon by soldiers manning a security checkpoint.
She died on the spot while her boyfriend and the taxi driver escaped unharmed.
A statement issued to the media by police blamed the taxi driver, Mustapha Njie, for causing Ms Jarju’s dead. It said the driver had refused to heed to the stop signal and the soldiers were left with no choice but to ‘fire at it in order to disable it’.
“The driver came to the security checkpoint and drove past it without stopping,” said police spokesman ASP David Kujabi.
“He was shouted at to stop but he sped on unheedingly. The officers suspicious of this behaviour got into their car and pursued the fleeing taxi. Warning shots were fired into the air but the driver only increased his speed. Pursuing the fleeing taxi for quite some distance, they overtook it and stopped in front of it but the driver took a quick turn and drove down a narrow street nearby. At this juncture the officers having left with no choice fired at the vehicle in order to disable it.”
ASP Kujabi added that their investigation have found that the driver failed to stop at the checkpoint because he did not hold a valid driving licence and was not also wearing a seatbelt.
