Principal Magistrate, Moses Richards of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court, has said that his court will discharge Alieu Maomar Njie, former Mayor of KMC, if the prosecution fails to proceed with the case against Mr Njie as his liberty is at stake. “The law says, if you drag an accused person to court, you have to proceed with the case,” he said.

Principal Magistrate made this remark yesterday, while presiding over the criminal case involving Alieu Mamour Njie, former Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council, who is currently facing D4,000,000 theft case.

When the case was mentioned, Inspector ASP Bojang informed the court that he was sick, but has managed to come to the court, noting that he would like to apply for a short adjournment.

In response, Lawyer Badou Conteh, Defence Counsel, said that the accused person should be discharged, because the prosecution has failed to proceed with the case.

He added that “before you charge somebody, you must finish with your investigation. In a criminal case, whenever you charge, this means you are ready to proceed with the case. You cannot charge and then failed to proceed with the case,”

After hearing from both sides, Principal Magistrate Richards, said he is tempted to discharge the accused person, simply because the prosecution has failed to proceed with the case.

He then urged the prosecution to either proceed with the case or discharge the accused person.

It could be recalled that Alieu Mamour Njie, former Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) was sometime in August 2007, arrested and detained by personnel of the Gambia Police Force (GPF), only to be later released. He was charged with stealing, contrary to Section 252, Cap 10 Volume 3, Laws of The Gambia.

The particulars of the offence stated that Mr Momar Njie, has between 2003 -2004 at Bakoteh Layout and diverse places of the Republic of The Gambia, stole an amount of D4M, being the property of the Gambia Scout Association.