By: Sainabou Sambou
In a powerful and uncompromising judgment delivered today at the High Court in Banjul, Justice Ebrima Jaiteh convicted Yugo Sowe of five serious criminal offenses and sentenced him to life imprisonment for a savage, premeditated attack in which he hacked his wife, Amie Sowe, with a cutlass while she slept in her home.
The 23 June 2026 ruling marks one of the most severe sentences handed down in a domestic violence case in The Gambia in recent years. Justice Jaiteh found Sowe guilty on all counts — Attempt to Murder, Grievous Harm, Acts Intended to Cause Grievous Harm, Wounding, and Domestic Violence — and described the crime as a “ferocious, sustained” assault that left the victim permanently disabled and wheelchair-bound.
The Attack
On the night of 16 November 2023, at Brikama Jalambang in the West Coast Region, Sowe entered the isolated home where his wife of 23 years lived with their seven children. Armed with a cutlass, he repeatedly struck the sleeping woman, targeting her legs with such force that both tibias were fractured. He also inflicted deep lacerations to her arms, severed extensor tendons, damaged the radial nerve in her right hand, and injured her Achilles tendon.
Amie Sowe, who had changed her usual sleeping position that night, survived only because the blows missed her head and neck. She recognised her attacker immediately and cried out, “Yugo, why are you trying to kill me?” Their 13-year-old son, Abdoulie Sowe, witnessed the assault and testified that his father stood in the doorway wielding the cutlass, preventing the children from reaching their mother.
Police recovered the bloodstained cutlass and clothing belonging to Sowe from his second wife’s compound. Medical evidence confirmed the injuries were “dangerous” and life-threatening. Amie Sowe spent nearly two months in hospital, underwent multiple surgeries, and remains wheelchair-bound with visible scars and permanent disability.
Verdict and Sentencing
Justice Jaiteh delivered guilty verdicts on all five counts after a trial that featured compelling eyewitness testimony from the victim and her son, immediate identification by the victim to police and neighbours, recovery of the weapon, and detailed medical corroboration.
On sentencing, the judge imposed the following: Count 3 (Acts Intended to Cause Grievous Harm): Life imprisonment; Count 1 (Attempt to Murder): 7 years; Count 2 (Grievous Harm): 7 years; Count 4 (Wounding): 3 years and Count 5 (Domestic Violence): 2 years.
All other sentences are to run concurrently with the life term. Sowe, a first-time offender and father of seven, received no discount for the mitigating factors advanced by his lawyer. Justice Jaiteh stated that the aggravating features “place this case among the most serious instances of domestic violence to come before this Court.”
Judge’s Strong Condemnation
In a detailed and forthright sentencing remark, Justice Jaiteh laid bare the gravity of the crime and the betrayal it represented.
“The victim was not a stranger. She was the convict’s wife… the mother of his seven children,” the judge said. “Instead of discharging his duty of care, protection, and respect, he became the source of the victim’s suffering and destruction.”
Justice Jaiteh highlighted the premeditated nature of the attack: repeated prior threats to kill Amie Sowe over land and property disputes, the arming with a cutlass, the nocturnal invasion of her bedroom while she slept, the sustained and ferocious nature of the assault, and the fact that it occurred in the presence of the couple’s children.
“The attack was not spontaneous. It was the culmination of a course of threatening and coercive conduct,” the judge ruled. “The victim was attacked while asleep and defenceless in the sanctuary of her own home. There can be few places where a citizen is entitled to feel safer than in her own bedroom. The convict violated that sanctuary in the most brutal manner imaginable.”
The judge rejected Sowe’s claims of illness and physical incapacity, noting that the 13-year-old son clearly saw his father wielding the cutlass in his right hand. He also dismissed the defence of alibi and mistaken identity, describing the recognition evidence from the victim and her son as “cogent, credible, consistent, and compelling.”
A Scourge on Society
Justice Jaiteh used the sentencing to deliver a broader message on domestic violence:
“Domestic violence is a scourge upon society. It destroys lives, devastates families, traumatizes children, and undermines the very foundation upon which healthy communities are built.”
He stressed that violence within the home is often more serious than stranger violence because it involves a betrayal of trust. The judge issued a clear warning: These are not signs of love. They are signs of danger.”
Referring to the warning signs that preceded the attack — persistent threats, coercive control, economic abuse, and threats to kill — Justice Jaiteh told women and society at large:
“Women must be vigilant and must never dismiss repeated threats of violence as mere anger or empty words… Every woman has the right to dignity. Every woman has the right to safety. Every woman has the right to live free from violence. This Court will continue to uphold those rights fearlessly and without hesitation.”
No Remorse
A key aggravating factor cited by the judge was Sowe’s complete lack of remorse. Throughout the trial he maintained his innocence despite overwhelming evidence, including his own son’s eyewitness account and the victim’s immediate identification of him as the attacker.
Justice Jaiteh concluded that the only appropriate punishment for the most serious count was life imprisonment, describing the offense as one of the gravest known to the criminal law.
Sowe was reminded of his right to appeal both conviction and sentence. He remains in custody.
