Magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh of the Brikama Magistrates Court, yesterday acquitted one Kaddy Saidy, a woman who was found guilty of stealing three pieces of cloth, valued at D500.

Mrs Saidy was said to have stolen the three pieces of cloths from a shop in Brikama market on October 4, 2008.

When the presiding Magistrate asked what prompted her to steal the said properties, she responded that she did not know.

“Why should I have mercy on you?” the presiding Magistrate asked the old woman.

He put it to her that the law said that he (Magistrate Jammeh) could send her to five years imprisonment. Magistrate Jammeh told the old woman that what she did was criminal. “You came to Brikama, specifically to sell tomatoes, why did you steal?” he asked her.

He then urged the old woman to desist from such practices and warned her not to appear in his court again, before he discharged her due to her old age.