The Kanifing Magistrate’s court, before Principal Magistrate Sallah Mbye, commenced hearing a defilement charge against Muhammad Sillah for having s*x with a 17-year-old girl.
Muhammed Sillah stands accused of the defilement of a 17-year-old girl. Muhammad Sillah is charged under Section 5(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2013 for allegedly having “carnal knowledge” of a minor between June and July 2024.
The prosecution, led by Assistant Commissioner A. Manga and 1027 Corr, called the victim to the stand as the first witness. In an emotional testimony delivered in Wolof, the teenager detailed two separate incidents of sexual assault that she claims led to her being disvirgined by the accused.
Full verbatim transcription of the proceedings.
When the case was called, Assistant Commissioner A. Manga and 1027 Corr appeared for the IGP. The accused, Muhammed Sillah, appeared unrepresented.
The victim, a 17-year-old was called to the witness box. She opted to speak in Wolof and swore by the Qur’an to tell the truth.
The alleged victim’s evidence-in-Chief was led by Assistant Commissioner Manga
Commissioner Manga: Tell the court how you know Muhammad Sillah.
Victim: Through my friend by the name Naza Neen Arianfar.
Commissioner Manga: How do you know the accused through your friend?
Victim: My friend posted me on her WhatsApp status, and the accused person asked my friend to give her my number, and my friend gave her. We started communicating.
Commissioner Manga: Do you know why you are here and the reason for the charge before the court?
Witness: Yes.
Commissioner Manga: Tell the court.
Victim: We have a school prom, and my mum said my prom has to be my classmates or schoolmates. Then, the accused person told me to tell my mum that he’s a classmate of mine since we have a Muhammad in our class.
A week before the prom, my mum invited him to the house and told him that I’m her only daughter and he should be careful in the traffic and take care of me.
She continued: Three days before, the accused told me he was not going with me to the prom because many people asked him to be their prom date. I told him, “How can you cancel at the last moment when my mum invited you to the house and advised you?”
He called around 20:00 saying he was around the next junction, near my house, and he wanted us to discuss the prom.
On arrival there, it was a car garage for the discussion. He removed something from his pocket, and I asked him what it was; he replied that it was a condom, and he then laughed and threw it. During the discussion, he held on to my hand tiredly and bent me during the process. My leg was weak, and there was a taxi in the garage where I leaned my body for some time, and then he told me to go.
Commissioner Manga: What do you mean by saying “he held my hand strongly and bent me down”?
Witness: He bent me and penetrated me.
Commissioner Manga: When you said he penetrated you, what do you mean? He penetrated through the wall or what? We need to know.
Victim: He penetrated me through his pe**s into my vag**a.
Commissioner Manga: When you leaned on the taxi, what happened?
Victim: By then, people were passing, and he didn’t want them to know what was happening. After those people passed, he told me to go. I went home and went to the bathroom; I was bleeding. I cleaned myself and went to my room. I decided to stay in the room because my aunt is very observant.
The alleged victim continued testifying: The next day, I called the accused to ask why he did that to me, and he replied that he loves me and wanted to marry me. After that, I went with him to the prom and did the prom. Later, my mum observed that I’m always scared; she asked what happened, and I explained everything. My mum explained to my auntie and they went to the police station.
Commissioner Manga: Now, you said he invited you to the car garage. Can you tell us the area?
Victim: The place is always a quiet and lonely area in Old Jeshwang.
Commissioner Manga: You said during the discussion that he held your hand, removed a condom, and threw it.
Victim: He held my hand at the back.
Commissioner Manga: Demonstrate it.
The alleged victim demonstrated by turning her back, indicating how her hand was held and stating her trousers were removed, and Muhammad Sillah penetrated her.
Commissioner Manga: What was your reaction?
Victim: I told him to leave and tried to escape, but he held me so strongly with his hand and blocked me with his legs, and I could not move.
Commissioner Manga: What happened when you went to the police?
Victim: I was asked to come the next day because it was late. The next day, he was arrested and taken to the Kairaba police station. I was later called and a statement was obtained. However, one office, a female by the name Fatou Bojang invited me to another room and asked me to change my statement.
Commissioner Manga: Did you sign or thumbprint your statement?
Victim: I think I signed it.
Commissioner Manga: Is that the only time you had an interaction with the accused?
Victim: No, the other one was in their compound at Kanifing South. It was the same year but I can’t remember the month. He asked me to visit him. He told me he wanted to have s*x with me and he wanted me and would marry me.
Commissioner Manga: And then?
Victim: We had s*x. He demanded it and said even if I denied, he already had disvirgined me and would marry me. So, I agreed. After the s*x, I sat there for a while because after the s*x it was painful. When I was leaving, he told me to walk fast and properly or his family would suspect.
Commissioner Manga: The second s*x you had with him was it before you went to the police station or after
Victim: Before going to the police
Commissioner Manga: So, you’re saying you had two sexual intercourses with him before your mum knew about it.
Victim: Yes, it was after that that my mum found out.
Commissioner Manga: Are you going to school
Victim: I graduated from school in 2024.
Commissioner Manga: That’s all for the witness (victim)
Cross-Examination by Muhammed Sillah
Muhammad Sillah: I’m putting to you the statement that at the car garage, I held your hand is not true.
Victim: That’s true.
Muhammad Sillah: I’m putting it to you that all the evidence you gave to the court isn’t true apart from the prom. You planned and fabricated with your mum to frame me.
Victim: All I said is the truth. You’re the first person to have sex with me.
Muhammad Sillah: I’m putting it to you that all you said about the garage is false because you were staying at Busumbala at the time and not at Old Jeshwang.
Victim: You said nothing happened at the garage. Are you denying that you didn’t disvirgin me?
Muhammad Sillah: I was not the first person to have s*x with her she had different boyfriends before me because she told me she had two boyfriends before. She was my girlfriend, and this is why her mum invited me to her house, encouraging me to hold her daughter, because she knows that I know in a Serehule. The second time you said we had s*x isn’t true because anytime you visited me my grandmother would send you away.
Victim: That’s not true. Your grandmother never sent me away. I have evidence of text messages appealing to me to forgive you. You asked my mum to drop the case and said he will marry me as the Qur’an advises that once you disvirgined by someone he have to marry the person.
Muhammad Sillah: I’m putting it to you that my family went to your family and appealed, but your mum was asking for huge amounts of money, and that’s why the case came to this level.
Victim: No, mum said you cannot offend her child and ask me for forgiveness like that.
The case adjourned to 13th January 2026 at 15:00 for the testimony of the second witness.
