Westfield Murder Trial: Prosecution Tenders Alleged Murder Weapon And Victim’s Dress 

By Landing Ceesay 

The State (Prosecution) continued to present evidence in the Westfield murder trial involving Arona Tine, the accused, including the alleged murder weapon and the dress of the victim, Fatoumatta Kargbo.

Arona Tine is facing a single charge of murder, as outlined in Section 187 of The Criminal Code.

The prosecution alleges that on January 19, 2024, in Westfield, Kanifing Municipality, The Gambia, Arona Tine deliberately stabbed Fatoumatta Kargbo with a knife, leading to her death.

The prosecution is submitting these recovered items through Sergeant Landing Jallow from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Serekunda West Police Station.

During the last court session, the prosecution introduced the mobile phones of both Arona Tine and Fatoumatta Kargbo as evidence, which were duly marked and accepted by the court.

“Besides the recovery of the items that were marked and entered into evidence, what other items did you recover at the crime scene?” State Counsel A. Gibba asked Sergeant Jallow. 

“His (Arona Tine) jacket was recovered at the scene,” Sergeant Jallow told the court. 

Sergeant Jallow told the court that Arona Tine’s jacket was recovered inside the exchange bureau on a chair together with his cross-bag. 

“If you’re shown this jacket, you are referring to, how would you be able to identify it?” Counsel Gibba asked. 

“It is a light grey colour with blood stains, and it was put in a paper bag and labelled with a diary reference number,” Sergeant Jallow responded. 

“Following the recovery of the jacket, what other steps did you take?” Counsel Gibba asked again. 

“The alleged murder knife was also recovered, it was also put in a paper bag and labelled with the diary reference number. The colour of the handle of the knife is sea green with blood stains,” Sergeant Jallow told the court. 

The knife suspected to be the murder weapon was given to Sergeant Jallow for identification, and he confirmed it as the one retrieved during the investigation.

Counsel Gibba subsequently requested that the paper bag containing the knife, which had blood stains on it, be admitted into evidence and properly marked.

The defence team did not raise any objections to the admission of the paper bag and its contents into evidence.

Without any objections, Hon. Justice Ebrima Jaiteh admitted the knife with a sea green handle and the paper bag containing the diary reference number into evidence, marking them as Exhibit P6.

Following the admission of the alleged murder weapon, Sergeant Jallow testified that the shirt of the accused, Arona Tine, was also recovered when he was discharged from the hospital.

Sergeant Jallow described the shirt as red and stained with blood. He noted that the shirt was placed in a paper bag along with the accused’s jacket.

Both the red shirt and jacket of Arona Tine were presented to Sergeant Jallow for identification. He confirmed that these items were recovered during the investigation.

Counsel Gibba then requested to submit the paper bag containing a light grey jacket stained with blood, along with the red shirt stained with blood, into evidence, and these items were marked accordingly.

The defence, represented by Counsel O. Susso, did not oppose the admission of these items into evidence.Without any objections, Hon. Justice Jaiteh admitted the items into evidence as a bundle, designating them as Exhibit P6A for the jacket with blood stains and Exhibit P6B for the red shirt with blood stains

“What stage in your investigation did you interact with the deceased?” Counsel Gibba asked. 

“For the deceased (Fatoumatta Kargbo) when I asked about her, I was told that she was taken to Westfield clinic. When she was escorted to Westfield clinic, I did not go there, but later in the day when she was moved to the mortuary in Banjul, I went to the mortuary to see her body,” Sergeant Jallow testified. When questioned about the results of his visit to the mortuary, Sergeant Jallow explained that his initial purpose was solely to view the body and take photographs. He also mentioned that he visited Fatoumatta Kargbo’s family for identification purposes. Sergeant Jallow further stated that he returned to the mortuary after his visit to the family for identification.

“I went back there to witness the postmortem and after the postmortem was conducted, I recovered her dress,” he testified. 

“What did you do upon recovery of the said dress?” Counsel Gibba asked. 

“At the mortuary, I put it (dress) in a bag and then went to Serekunda Police, where I transferred it in a paper bag and labelled it,” Sergeant Jallow told the court. 

Sergeant Jallow testified that the deceased, Fatoumatta Kargbo, was wearing an orange dress with blood stains.

He received a paper bag containing this dress, which he confirmed as the one he had recovered.

Counsel Gibba requested that the paper bag, containing the orange dress with blood stains worn by the deceased on the day of the incident, be admitted as evidence and marked accordingly.

The defense, represented by Counsel O. Susso, did not object to the dress being admitted into evidence.

Hon. Justice Jaiteh approved the admission of the paper bag and its contents, marking it as Exhibit P7.

The case was adjourned until the 23rd of July, 2024.