Following Their Plea of Guilt to Charges Preferred against Them

Twenty Gambians deportees from Spain were yesterday given a one-year suspended sentence by Magistrate Moses Richard of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court following their guilty plea to the charge preferred against them.

Adducing the facts of the case the police prosecutor, Inspector Touray, stated that all the accused persons are young Gambians who were deported from Spain and arrived at the Banjul International Airport on 24th July 2007.

Inspector Touray added that on arrival the youth were received by the Gambia Immigration unit at the airport, who screened them before escorting them to the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) head office in Kanifing. He said that there also they were screened again before being cautioned by the police.

Inspector Touray further adduced that when the accused persons were released from the PIU head office they went straight to Westfield, arriving at the time the president was unveiling the homeland monument. He added that they assembled there and some of them started using abusive language and insisted on speaking to the president. He said that they were arrested by the PIU, cautioned and charged with the offence committed, noting that they all agreed to the facts as narrated by the prosecution.

The accused persons were charged with acting in a manner that is likely to cause breach of the peace, as well as unlawful assembly.