Dida Abdi Jallow Halake, the former managing director and editor-in-chief of the Daily Observer, was yesterday arraigned before Senior Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates Court.

When the case was called, Police Prosecutor ASP Bojang, applied for a short adjournment to enable him to draw a proper charge against the accused. According to him, they cannot proceed with the matter as the charge levelled against the accused was not satisfactory.

ASP Bojang added that the Criminal Procedure Code provides all rights to come up with any charge aganst an accused, noting that they want to come with a proper charge against the accused.

In response, Lawyer Lamin Jobarteh, who appeared for the accused, objected to the application on the grounds that his client has been kept under custody for the past 10 days.

According to Lawyer Jobarteh, such an application cannot be supported by any law or order, noting that the prosecution has  framed their own charge, which was in line with Section 113 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

“Why should you charge him and put him in the dock? And quite apart from that, the charge sheet can be amended. It’s  either you come back on the next adjournment date to apply for amendment or substitute the charge sheet,” he argued.

Jobarteh then strongly objected to  any further adjournment.

In his ruling, Senior Magistrate Buba Jawo said the court is obliged, when the accused is brought before it, for a charge sheet to be read. According to him, the prosecution had not informed the court about what needed to be amended.

“To adjourn should be on a genuine reason and the court must be informed about what needs to be amended. The court believes that the prosecution has filed a suit and is not ready to proceed with it. The procedure here is only to strike out the case,” he ruled.