The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Prosecutions, Lamin Sanneh, Wednesday joined other police officers in mistreating the editor-in-chief of JollofNews.
The incident has shocked and enraged many onlookers.
Mr. Momodou Justice Darboe was at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court Wednesday to cover the trial of two Austrians Manuel Di Stofleth Mitterer and Angelika Mitterer, but he found himself literally mobbed by people later identified as officers of the Gambia Police Force (GPF) when he took pictures of the Austrians as they stepped into the court precincts.
“The bitter confrontation erupted when one man complained that it was him that I pictured,” Darboe explained following his release from the police station. “I tried to explain that it was the Austrians that I took, but he was having none of it. As I tried to reason with him, others joined in, then came AIG Sanneh.
“AIG Sanneh started to tell me that what I did was wrong and this is not the first time. He said I should stop taking people’s pictures without their consent. I responded that what he said was not true because I never did that. I told him that I neither did anything wrong the other time nor this time around and that he should allow me to do my job. He went berserk and aimed for, probably, my neck. I ducked and asked him so you are assaulting me? And he responded that “you haven’t seen anything yet”. A few seconds later, men in civilian clothes descended on me and tried to restrain me. They manhandled me by twisting my hands, trying to sweep me to the bare floor. It was in the single near fall in the struggle that my big thumb was bruised. A paramilitary officer later came from the courtroom and handcuffed me. I was later escorted to Banjul police station, where I was charged and detained.”
Asked whether he did not sustain any physical harm from the assault, Darboe said he was feeling pain in his elbow and shoulder and would probably see a doctor later today if the pain did not subside.
Manuel Stofleth Mitterer and Angelika Mitterer are being tried at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court for allegedly disobeying a lawful order by refusing investigators from the national police access to their computer, regarding details of cryptocurrency transactions.
The case was triggered by a criminal complaint filed by Manuel’s business partners Ebrima Solomon Tamba and Marcel Limbertus Van Andel on suspicion of diverting millions of dalasi of proceeds from their investment.
More details on the case, which suffered yet another setback on Wednesday, due to the absence of key defense lawyers Sheriff Tambedou and Ida Drammeh.
