By: Nicholas Bass
The principal magistrate of Brikama Magistrates’ Court, Anna O. Mendy on Tuesday sentenced one Ousainou Touray to eight years of mandatory imprisonment for breaking into a shop and stealing thirteen (13) gallons of cooking oil from one Cherno Sanneh.
The convict, Touray, was charged with two counts of breaking into a building and committing a felony contrary to sections 283(b) and 252 of the Criminal Code, Cap 10:01, Volume 3, Laws of The Gambia.
According to the particulars of the offense on count one (1), revealed that on or about 22nd January 2025 at Farato Village in West Coast Region, The Gambia, Touray broke into the shop of one Cherno Sanneh with intent to commit a felony.
The particulars of offence on count two (2), read that Touray on or about 22nd January 2025 at Farato Village in West Coast Region, The Gambia, stole thirteen (13) gallons of cooking oil worth D28,600, all properties of Cherno Sanneh.
When Touray was arraigned before the court, the charges were read and interpreted to him in Wolof (elected language), he pleaded guilty to all the charges, and the same was entered against him.
According to the verdict of magistrate Mendy, the court called the prosecution to narrate the facts as expected by Laws, stating that the prosecution after narrating the facts tendered a black and orange iron cutter, a pair of black coloured shoes, ash-coloured jeans, a USB flash drive containing CCTV footage of the alleged incident, a bundle of keys, a cautionary and voluntary statements of the accused, was tendered without the accused’s objection and marked as exhibits.
The trial magistrate Mendy in the verdict recalled that Touray, despite being unrepresented by a lawyer, was called by the court to react to the facts as narrated, but he reacted in the affirmative.
‘I am therefore satisfied that the accused person indeed intended to plead guilty. His guilty plea to my mind is direct, voluntary, and unequivocal ‘, magistrate Mendy said.
Magistrate Mendy stated that it is trite law in our criminal justice system that courts can convict on the guilty plea of an accused person in an open court.
‘I am further satisfied that the facts narrated have articulated the ingredients of the offenses to warrant a conviction.
I accordingly find Ousainou Touray guilty as charged’’, magistrate Mendy ruled.
Magistrate Mendy further stated that heedful of the fact that the offense of house or shop breaking is on the increase stressed that properties of innocent people are no longer safe in the hands of thieves.
‘In the light of the foregoing, this Honourable Court hereby sentences the convict in the person of Ousainou Touray as follows: a mandatory jail term of five (5) years imprisonment on count one, and a mandatory jail term of three years imprisonment’, Magistrate Mendy ruled.
Magistrate Mendy further ordered Touray to pay a sum of D28,000 to Cherno Sanneh (victim) as compensation for the cost of unrecovered items that were stolen in default to serve two (2) years imprisonment.