By: Ousman Saidykhan
The accused killer of the PIU officers testified that the third state witness in the murder trial, Mama Jabbi, falsely claimed he had killed people in The Gambia. This assertion arose after Bojang replied “yes” to a question about whether he was aware of the police officers’ killings. The accused stated that Jabbi’s claim was untrue.
Ousainou Bojang said he was in Jululung, Cassamance, to see a marabout who could help him with “charity and prayers” after a nude video of him was shared on social media by a white lady he was in a relationship with.
He told the court that the white lady owned a flat at a lodge where he worked, Smiling Coast Residence. He collected the rent from the apartment and deposited the money into the woman’s account.
He was going to Ziguinchor but was directed to Mama Jabbi, a marabout whom the head of a garage in Jululung, Alfusainey Dari, told him could solve his problem. According to Ousainou, Alfusainey, who also testified as a prosecution witness, asked him if he was aware of the officers’ murder later at the house the marabout was lodging.
“Then she (Mama Jabbi) said, ‘You know something about this. Are you sure you’re not the one that started the fire and then decided to leave the Gambia to come to Casamance?”.
“She then started saying: ‘You know you killed some people, and then look at you now – you’re right here under me.’ Then I told her: ‘No, that is not true’, and when I said that, the chef de garage was sitting there.”
He testified that Mama started shouting and saying things that were different from his mission there, and he could not understand.
“That was when she picked up the phone and faced me. Then I told her, don’t take a video of me. Then the Chef the Garage told me: ‘She is not videoing you.’ And I told the chef: ‘Please talk to her, let her not record me,'” said Bojang, the defense’s first witness.
“That was when the woman said: ‘You people, what did you do to Barrow?’ And then I said: ‘I did not do anything to that Barrow.”
In Jululung, before narrating his problem to Mama, the marabout, Ousainou said he had performed ablution, prayed, and was doing some dhikr in a parlor he was directed to by one Yaye Faal, the host of Mama Jabbi. Dhikr translates to remembrance of Allah in an Islamic context.
He said Mama stood at the door with two phones while he was doing his dhikr, but as soon as he raised his head and locked eyes with her, she moved “hurriedly” from there without his knowledge of what she was doing. He told the court that he would later realize, when he was with the Gambia police, that Mama had taken a picture of him during that moment, which went viral.
Ousainou said Mama later worked to where he was sitting, sat by him, pulled some cowrie shells, and asked him about his name, where he came from, and his problems.
“Then I told her I had an issue with my white woman. When I met this woman, she was with someone, and he disappointed her. Because of that stress, she even had to close her apartment and give away everything in her apartment. It was during that period that I started a relationship with her.
“She first bought me a vehicle. After that, she returned to England and sent me money to furnish the house. I later had issues with her regarding money collected from the apartment. A friend of mine told her I mismanaged the money,” she narrated, telling the marabout.
He said Mama rubbed the cowrie shells in her hands, threw them in a bucket containing water, and told him, “Yes, it is true. You are really under betrayal.” He said the marabout told him that his friend was orchestrating betrayal.
He said Mama Jabbie wrapped cowrie shells in her hands for the second time, dropped them in the bucket, and told him the same thing: “There are a lot of people that are after you. I asked people what type of a people?” He said a lot of people.
During Mama’s testimony, she said Ousainou had confessed to killing the PIU officers and had sought assistance from her with an armlet and some money to go to Ziguinchor. Still, the first accused person has denied this.
