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Gambia: Thirty Returnees Charged

A criminal case was on Thursday 30th November brought against some 30 Gambians recently deported from Spain before magistrate Edrissa Mbye at the Brikama Magistrates' Court. The deportees, all men, were charged with malicious and willful damage to property when they exploded in a rampage upon arrival at the Yundum International Airport some five weeks ago.

According to the particulars of offence, the men on the 28th day of October, 2006, at the Banjul International Airport jointly destroyed four flower pots, six flower plants, 13 fixed panels, 39 lower blades, all valued at D103,300.00 being the property of the Gambia Civil Aviation authority. The case could, however, not proceed because fifteen of the accused men were absent in court.

The prosecutor then made an application for a bench warrant for the arrest of the remaining of the absentees. In his ruling the presiding magistrate said that the application was premature. He said that since the accused persons present could not take their plea in the absence of the others, the application could not be granted. He therefore adjourned the case to December 12th.