Gibril King, identified as a habitual offender, was on Monday, convicted and sentenced to a one-month mandatory jail term with hard labour for unlawfully escaping police custody by Magistrates’ Pa Harry Jammeh of the Kanifing Magistrate Court.

Unlawfully escaping from custody while in conflict with the law is contrary to Section 108 of the Criminal Code Laws of The Gambia.

According to the particulars, Mr. King, who was remanded at the State Central Prisons at Mile II, escaped from the court room unnoticed, while under the custody of First Class Keita. According to the facts, Keita escorted the prisoner to the toilet, the opportunity the convict used to sneak his way out. A search for the prison was then mounted until April 26, when he was re-arrested by the police at around Super Bird in Tallinding.

In his plea for mitigation, Mr. King admitted guilt and claimed that he was compelled to escape because of the news about the death of his brother. “I am also responsible for the children,” he told the court.
Presiding Magistrate Jammeh then sentenced Mr. King to a one-month mandatory jail term with hard labour.