In what could be described as a setback in the trial of Musa Suso, ex-National Assembly Member (NAM) for Kombo North, Lamin Jobarteh, counsel for the accused person has filed in a stay of proceedings at the High Court in Banjul.

The stay of proceedings means hearings cannot proceed into the said case pending the outcome of the file  from the High Court.
The defence counsel’s decision followed Magistrate Kayode Olajubutu’s overruling of a submission made by the defence urging  the prosecution to supply the defence counsel with some of the witness cautionary statements in order to prepare his defence.

This submission was strongly countered by the prosecution officer, ASP Badji, on the grounds that supplying such documents to the defence will greatly disarm the prosecution. He relied on the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), the Constitution and other laws of The Gambia and beyond.

It was at that juncture that Magistrate Kayode Olajubutu, adjourned the case for ruling, before he left for his leave. Upon resuming in September, he overruled the submission of the defence counsel, which resulted  in the filing of a stay of proceedings at the High court by the defence counsel.