By: Landing Ceesay
The relatives of Gibriel Ceesay, who was reportedly killed by a Senegalese national explained how the incident happened which led to a violent protest in Sanyang village in the West Coast Region, earlier today [Monday].
Omar Ceesay, elder brother, Mai Ceesay, elder sister and Amie Jarra, mother of the deceased gave Kerr Fatou a detailed explanation of the incident.
First to speak was Omar Ceesay, the elder brother of the deceased, who was resting in his room when the incident started.
“When I closed from work, I was watching TV, a friend of the late Gibriel Ceesay, who is a white man called him (Gibriel) and told him that there is someone in his (white man) room who wants to kill him. Then Gibriel called me and we went there and knocked on the door, but the thief [referring to the alleged killer] refused to open the door. Then I knocked on the door again, and the door opened. Then I saw the thief standing with two knives in his hands. Both Gibriel and I were empty-handed. We were not armed, then the thief attacked us and my brother (Gibriel) fell down,” said Omar Ceesay.
Omar added: “When my brother (Gibriel) fell to the ground, that’s the time the thief stabbed him on his ribs for the first time, and he stabbed him on his chest for the second time. Then I attacked the thief and he (thief) hit me on my face and wanted to run away.”
Explaining her own side of the story Amie Jarra, the mother of the deceased said when the thief stabbed Gibriel (the deceased), hit Omar Ceesay and wanted to run away; that’s the she took one of her cooking pots and hit the thief on his head and he fell down.
“He stabbed my son, hit another one on his face till he fell down. Then, hit me on my head and wanted to run away, that’s why I hit him (alleged killer) on his head, till I hurt his head,” Amie said.
“How can you go for stealing at someone’s compound and fight with that person till you kill that person,” she asked.
After an encounter with Amie, Omar said the man wanted to escape but they caught him. “When he wanted to run away through the main door of the house, we caught him and beat him till when he was weak, that’s the time we took him to the police station,” Omar said.
Mai Ceesay, the elder sister of the deceased [Gibriel] said the death of her brother is a very big loss to her family. She added that the late Gibriel was a very responsible and hardworking man.
“Gibriel’s help to our family was unimaginable. He loved his family, and he cared about his family so much. That’s why his demise is a very big lost to our family,” Mai lamented.
The alleged killing of Gibriel Ceesay, erupted a tension between the youths of Sanyang and the security forces in which registered 23 injuries at Sanyang hospital, according to the Gambia Red Cross Society.
Meanwhile, the alleged killer is believed to be a thief who turned violent, after being caught by the Ceesay family at the residence of a neighbour [white man who was a friend of the late Gibriel].