>Pasamba Jow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Mo,
>
>I spoke  to Dumo on Sunday and this Morning. He is out on bail. After
their release they were picked up again. He spent the night with the police
and was granted bail the next morning. He is in high spirits and wants to
thank everybody for the hard work to ensure his freedom and for believing
in him.
>
>I should be calling him within the next hour. So the news is that Dumo is
fine and with his family, in fact earlier today he was with his wife when i
called.
>
>Pasamba Jow

Pasamba,
Thanks for the update. I was puzzled when I read "He is out on bail" but I
can see from the following Daily Observ
er article that the state is
apealing the case.

Momodou

----------------------------FROM DAILY OBSERVER------------------------

News
State appeal Dumo & Co judgement
cite miscarriage of justice
By Ousman Darboe
Aug 3, 2004, 18:03


The state filed an appeal at the court yesterday, challenging the judgement
delivered by Justice Ahmed Belgore on Friday 30 which acquitted and
discharged Momodou (Dumo) Sarho and two others who had been arraigned in
the high court for treason since June 2000.

The notice of appeal filed by state lawyers stated: “The Attorney General
on behalf of the state is desirous of appealing against the discharge,
acquittal of [Ebrima Barrow, Dumo Sarho and Ebrima Yarbo] and the entire
judgement.”

On the grounds of appeal, the state argued that the judgement was not
supported by the evidence and was “unreasonable and perverse 4.

“The judgement is illogical and contradicts the earlier decision of the
learned trial judge overruling the no-case submission of the three freed
men and directing them to enter their defence. The learned trial judge
erred in law for finding [Sarho, Barrow and Yarbo] not guilty, after he had
already decided that the prosecution had established a prima facie case
against them, warranting an explanation from them. The judge misdirected
himself as to the legal incidence of the failure of [Sarho, Barrow and
Yarbo] to answer to the prima facie case already established by the
prosecution and the proper course to deal with the matter thereafter.”

The notice of appeal further stated that the overruling of the no-case
submission “presupposes beyond dispute that the evidence adduced is
admissible and reliable”.
It stats that when Sarho, Barrow and Yarbo elected not to give evidence in
defence,  3the only course open to this court is to first regard the
evidence of the prosecution as admitted and proceed therefrom on that
basis.”

It stats that the learned trial judge should not have proceeded as if it
had not delivered a ruling on the issue that the prosecution had adduced
sufficient evidence showing that the accused committed the offences in
courts one to six of the information.

The appeal went further to state that Justice Belgore erred in law in the
way and manner he treated the question of the credibility of Francesco
Caso, “which error occasioned a serious miscarriage of justice”.
It also said the trial judge subjected the testimony of Caso to heavy
attack.

“His Lordship made reference to every imaginable discrepancy in Caso’s
testimony to discredit him. The existence of some discrepancies and
inconsistencies in the testimony of a witness does not render the totality
of his test
imony unreliable. The discrepancy must be on a relevant fact,”
it stated.

The state averred that “even if Caso is viewed as a villain, his testimony
must be given appropriate consideration within legal confines. The proper
way to test the credibility of a testimony on a relevant fact is to relate
it to other evidence on record and see if it is probable. The learned trial
judge’s evidence is a fabrication and is riddled with contradiction.”

The appeal said Caso’s testimony was corroborated by the statement of
Sarho, Barrow and Yarbo. “The decision of the learned trial judge that
evidence adduced during a trial within trial cannot be used in the main
trial and vice-versa is wrong in law,” it said. Meanwhile, the Daily
Observer has learnt that Sarho and Yarbo were served with the appeal notice
at the serious crime unit, at Banjul Police Headquarters yesterday morning.

This paper could not confi
rm whether the first accused, Ebrima Barrow, was
served and when the hearing would commence.

© Copyright 2003 by Observer Company

----------------------END DAILY OBSERVER-----------------

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