By Mai Ahmad Fatty
To the exception of everything else, a negative DNA result in favour of the accused has been the upper-most determinant and exclusive instrument that compelled the State to enter a nolle prosequi. BOB is free due to DNA. It turned out that the Court Order issued by Justice M.S Jallow for a DNA test, resisted ferociously by the accused from day one, was infact in the best interest of the accused.
Bob is going home today because of the Judge’s insistence on a DNA test, which ultimately exonerated him as the father of the late Baby M. It was the same Justice M.S Jallow who had granted him bail, which was appealed by the State and revoked by the Court of Appeal. It’s now evident that Justice M.S Jallow was in the main, wrongly attacked and vilified. This is truly a seminal moment for Gambian criminal justice system. It is history in Gambian criminal jurisprudence – the first court ordered DNA criminal trial, with the conclusion fundamentally influenced by science.