A high court judge, Justice Ebrima Jaiteh, presiding over the ongoing murder trial of Ousainou Bojang, has admitted the suspect’s mobile phone, a Tecno Spark 8, into evidence. Bojang stands accused of the fatal shooting of two Gambian police officers in 2023, a crime that has gripped national attention due to its severity and implications.
The courtroom drama unfolded when Defence Counsel Lamin J. Darboe presented Bojang’s smartphone for admission into evidence. Initially, Darboe had intended to call a technician to unlock the device’s email and Google account but later withdrew that request. Instead, he handed the phone to Bojang, asking him to confirm its identity.
After a careful inspection, Bojang noted that the phone resembled his own Tecno Spark 8 and pointed out a distinctive scratch on the back.
However, he clarified that the green cover on the device was not his.
Seeking to tender the phone without the cover, Darboe faced immediate pushback from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), A.M. Yusuf. The DPP argued that the phone and its cover were retrieved as a single unit and should be admitted together. “The phone comes with a cover, and they must be tendered as one,” Yusuf insisted, objecting to the separation.
Darboe fired back, asserting that the phone and cover were distinct items. “The DPP’s objection is misplaced,” he argued, emphasizing that the cover’s ownership was irrelevant to the phone’s evidentiary value. The undeterred DPP suggested the court summon the investigators who recovered the phone to clarify how the cover came to be attached, hinting at potential discrepancies in the chain of custody.
Darboe countered fiercely, denying the phone was retrieved from a third party. “It was taken from the accused’s house,” he clarified, urging the court to overrule the DPP’s objection. The DPP, however, maintained that only the investigative team could definitively explain the circumstances of the phone’s recovery.
Amid the heated exchange, Darboe underscored the phone’s centrality to the case. “The test of admissibility is relevance, and this phone is a key piece of evidence. The cover is not necessary,” he submitted. In a final rebuttal, the DPP pressed the court to act “suo moto”—on its own motion—and call the investigators to testify.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Jaiteh carefully weighed both arguments. He acknowledged Darboe’s application to admit the Tecno Spark 8 without its cover and the prosecution’s contention that the two formed a single entity. However, he noted a critical detail: both sides had ultimately not objected to admitting the phone itself.
“It is imperative to clarify that the Tecno Spark 8 mobile phone and its cover are, in fact, two distinct and separable units,” Justice Jaiteh declared. He pointed to Bojang’s testimony, which identified the phone by its scratches but disavowed the cover, as decisive evidence of their separation.
Justice Jaiteh further observed that the prosecution had presented the Tecno Spark 8 as Bojang’s phone. “In the interest of justice and in light of the evidence presented,” he ruled, the phone would be admitted as a standalone exhibit, marked as Defence Exhibit D22. The cover, deemed extraneous, was excluded.
With this ruling, the court adjourned the case to March 3, 2025, at 2:15 PM, setting the stage for further proceedings in a trial that continues to captivate and divide observers. As the legal battle intensifies, the Tecno Spark 8—scratched and coverless—now stands as pivotal evidence in determining Bojang’s fate.
The prosecution alleges that on September 12, 2023, at the Sukuta traffic lights, Bojang opened fire on three police officers, killing two and leaving a third with life-threatening injuries. Charged with murder, terrorist acts, and other offenses, Bojang has pleaded not guilty. His sister, Amie Bojang, faces charges as an accessory after the fact, adding further complexity to the case.
