One Cherno Jallow, who was facing a criminal charge of murder, contrary to Section 187 of the Criminal Code Cap 10 Volume 3, Laws of The Gambia, was last Monday discharged and acquitted by Justice Mabel Mammy Agymang of the Criminal Division of the High Court in Banjul.

Mr Cherno Jallow, was accused of murdering the late Saikou Tida Jallow, a charge which he had denied from the inception of the trial.

Delivering her judgement, Justice Mabel Mammy Agymang made extensive reference to the litigation with support from the evidences adduced by both prosecution and defence witnesses, as well as the postmortem report on the body of the murdered baby, which was exhumed.

According to the High Court judge, the prosecution has a duty to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt or to prove the case to a degree of certainty, in the absence of which, no tribunal of law can convict an accused person.

“The evidence laid in this court was that, the baby was dead but the prosecution did not prove that the accused killed the baby or that the baby died in the custody of the accused.

The report of the post-mortem conducted on the baby linked the cause of death to suffocation but cannot tell whether the accused is responsible or not,”  she stated.
“The prosecution failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused person and the court, therefore, accordingly discharges and acquits Cherno Jallow of the charge preferred against him,” she concluded.