A Senegalese migrant worker who smashed a beer bottle over a man’s head at Banjul Albion Junction was convicted and ordered to pay D15,000 in fines and compensation as his two companions who were present that night walked free without charge.
A Senegalese national who struck a man on the head with a beer bottle near Banjul-Bakau garage was convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm and ordered to pay a combined D15,000 in fines and victim compensation breaking down in tears before the court as he pleaded for mercy.
Abdou Ceesay a first-time offender who earns his living pushing a wheelbarrow on the streets of Banjul, entered a guilty plea when he was arraigned before Principal Magistrate M. Krubally at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court nine days after the attack.
The assault occurred on the evening of Saturday, 11 April 2026. According to the prosecutor Deputy Superintendent F.F Kujabi, the victim, Samuel King, was walking from Oxford Street in the direction of Allen Street when he stopped at Albion Junction to buy cigarettes. There, he encountered three unknown men.
One of them later identified at the Old Primate Police Station as Abdou Ceesay struck Samuel King on the head with a beer bottle. Samuel King collapsed. Passersby came to his aid, apprehended Abdou Ceesay, and escorted him to the police station where statements were recorded and he was charged.
The other two men were never identified. Their names do not appear anywhere in the court record.
Samuel King was taken to the hospital for treatment and a medical certificate was prepared. The prosecution tendered both the certificate and a bundle of five photographs documenting his injuries.
Abdou Ceesay did not object to any of the evidence. Magistrate Krubally also took the unusual step of ordering the victim to appear before the bench and personally assessed the extent of his wound, recording it as a matter of judicial notice.
When invited by the magistrate to offer mitigating circumstances, Abdou Ceesay did not contest the facts or seek to minimise what he had done. Instead, he spoke quietly about his circumstances. He told the court he had come from Senegal to earn a living and that he worked hard every day pushing a wheelbarrow.
“I work harder to the extent that I bought a wheelbarrow that I push daily to make a living. I am asking for forgiveness.”
Magistrate Krubally acknowledged the remorseful. In his sentencing remarks, he said he found the mitigating circumstances “touching,” while maintaining that in “a civilised world, fighting need not be encouraged.”
Magistrate Krubally noted the purposes of criminal punishment as deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation, and said he wanted Abdou Ceesay to reform rather than be behind bars.
Magistrate Krubally accordingly imposed a fine of D5,000 with a default sentence of one month’s imprisonment. He further ordered Abdou Ceesay to pay D10,000 in compensation to Samuel King under Section 191 of the Criminal Offences Act 2025 in default of six months’ imprisonment. The two terms, if they are to be served, are to run consecutively.
