One Aminata Jallow from Bakoteh was charged last week, on Wednesday, for contempt of court at the Bundung Magistrates Court by Acting Principal Magistrate Kumba Sillah-Camara.
Aminata Jallow was said to have first manifested insubordination by refusing to stand when the magistrate entered the courtroom. When instructed by the magistrate to stand, she did so reluctantly, but was pardoned. However, her show of contempt did not end there. Despite the court’s warning that everyone should switch off their mobile phone in order not to interrupt the court proceedings, Aminata Jallow blatantly left hers on. When her phone first rang in the midst of proceedings, the court clerk repeated the order and warned her but she refused take heed.
When phone rang the second time, Aminata Jallow was called to the dock. Once there, she was asked to remove the chewing gum in her mouth. In response to this, she spat the gum out inside the court. Acting Principal Magistrate Kumba Sillah then asked her if she was okay. She begged for mercy and was fined D500 in default to serve two days at Mile II for contempt of court.
The drama did not end there as her phone rang again for the third time. This was after she had been told to sit with the remand prisoners. At the end of the court proceedings, she was crying profusely. Her tear flowed freer as she and other remand prisoners were led to the waiting Black Maria van standing outside the court, ready to convey her to Mile II. When reporters asked her why she was crying, she said: “I must cry because I left my two kids at home.
Their father is no longer alive and nobody is there to take care of them.” She further told reporters that she came to the court to attend her neighbour’s case.