By: Sainabou Sambou
Justice Ebrima Jaiteh’s courtroom fell quiet as Lamin Minteh, a bricklayer from Brufut, took the stand. He was the fourth witness to see the horror after a knife ended Cherno Manneh’s life on 29 November 2023. Mariama Jallow, the accused, listened from the dock, her face still.
“It was 29 November 2023, around 9:40 p.m.,” Minteh began. “I was watching Champions League with friends when my nephew, Anduama, only 13, ran in shouting, ‘Uncle, someone has been killed!’”
Minteh and three neighbours rushed to a dark patch near the victim’s house. Cherno Manneh lay bleeding from his chest, still breathing. “People said, ‘He’s not dead yet,’” Minteh recalled.
They lifted Cherno into neighbour Ousman Manneh’s car, but a crowd pointed to a nearby compound. “That’s where the woman went,” they said.
The group knocked on Mariama Jallow’s door. No answer. “We called, ‘Open, police are coming!’ Still nothing,” Minteh told the court.
Minutes later, Brufut PIU officers arrived. They knocked, announced themselves, and the door opened. An officer entered, stayed a short while, then led Jallow out in handcuffs.
“In the officer’s hand I saw a small knife—green handle,” Minteh said,
He followed the police car to the station and gave a statement.
Defence lawyer F.C. Anyanwu stood. “You said 29 November was Champions League night. That was a Thursday. No matches were played.”
Minteh shrugged. “ Unless I checked the calendar and know the date, or you can prove me wrong.” He told the court that everything he said was the truth after the defense challenged his testimony.
” I am not hiding the truth from the court. All I know is what I explained,” the witness said.
State prosecutor F. Drammeh rested the witness after the cross-examination.
Mariama Jallow, charged with murder under Section 187 of the Criminal Code, sat motionless. The State says she stabbed Cherno once in the chest with the intent to kill.
The court adjourned the case until 20 November at 11 a.m.
