The trial of Tambara Samba, the woman alleged to have killed her husband Ebrima Nyan, by pouring hot boiled oil on him, while sleeping on Wednesday, continued before Magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court.

In his testimony, the fourth prosecution witness, Ousman Jarjue told the court that he knew the deceased, and that they were living opposite to each other, in Kanifing Layout.  He said on 7th March, 2007, at around 2:30am, while lying outside their compound, he heard the deceased shouting and then decided to find out what was the problem, only to see the deceased rushing towards the bathroom.  “I called him and asked what the problem is and he said: Hot oil was poured on me,” he told the court.

Mr. Jarjue said he then told the deceased “let me come so that we can go to the hospital. I then went behind the front gate of the deceased’s house and called him three times, but he did not respond”. He said there he decided to call the wife who walked to the window. “I told her to call her husband for me so that we can go to the hospital, but in replied, Tabara told him there was no problem, maybe her husband is just dreaming.  Because the door was closed and there is no way, I decided to leave,” he said.

Lamin Conteh, the fifth prosecution witness told the court that he knows the deceased, Mr. Nyan. He said “It was around 2 am in the month of March, while in bed I heard a knock on our main gate. I decided to find out who was there but only to see Tabara standing, saying ‘your brother had alleged me ‘Tabara’.  Then I heard Ebrima Nyan, talking to my mother, saying it was her wife who poured hot oil on him. He was repeating these words to my mother saying:’ Tabara is very wicked’ and we had no quarrel”.

Mr. Conteh further testified that they later escorted the deceased to Lamtoro Clinic around Senegambia. Before that, he added the deceased requested for the keys to the main house, which were then thrown on the ground by Tabara, but before picking it up Mr. Nyan again said: “She is in fact going to take her clothes from the house”.

Mr. Conteh further testified that he then told the deceased: “Let’s go to the hospital because your body is in pain, while Tabara was later arrested by the police”.
The witness added that when the police visited the deceased’s house, the wife had already cleaned the bed and turned the mattress as if nothing had happened. He later identified the accused in the dock and also told the police prosecutor the deceased is now buried.

Under cross-examination by Momodou Musa Drammeh, counsel for the accused, Mr. Conteh said the accused once told him that the deceased was planning to marry another wife. The accused, he added “told me that when my brother was in Sweden, he did not call or send her anything. She also told me that my brother had also realised that she credited money from people while he was away”.  Mr. Conteh told the court that his brother was once married to Mai Manneh and Awa Jallow, a Senegalese.

Gikiba Sanneh, the sixth witness testified that he is a First Class Police Detective constable, attached to the Police Criminal Records, Banjul and that their work is to take photographs of death bodies. Detective Sanneh said he took the photo of the deceased at the RVTH, mortuary, which he developed and printed.  The said photos were later shown to the wife, Tabara, which she identified as the pictures of her late husband before they were tendered and marked as exhibits. 

In cross-examination by Lawyer Drammeh, Detective Sanneh told the court that he did not know whether any autopsy was carried out and did not know if there was any medical report of the deceased.
Also, testifying Lamin Jabang, First Class 1855 of Tujereng village, told the court that he was instructed to obtain a witness statement from the deceased who was then admitted at the Intensive Care Unit of the RVTH, by his Station Officer.
The witness further stated that the deceased told him that on 7th March, 2007, they had a visitor in the house and a dinner was prepared for him.  He said the deceased after seeing the visitor off, came into the house, watched the television with his wife for a while and told her to go to bed, but his wife denied, saying she would join him later as she wanted to continue watching television.

“The deceased also told me that it was there that he went to bed, while Tabara, later came in to check whether he (the deceased) was sleeping on three occasions. On her fourth return, the wife this time around came with a hot liquid and poured on him”.