The murder trial of Arona Tine, accused of fatally stabbing Fatoumatta Kargbo at HM Bureau de Change in Westfield, intensified today as State Counsel A Gibba pressed the defendant on a series of contradictions spanning his knowledge of the bureau, his attackers, and his actions during the alleged incident.
During cross-examination, Arona Tine contradicted himself repeatedly, first claiming he had never been to the bureau, then admitting he had known the owner for years and even travelled with him to Senegal.
The contradictions began immediately. Tine initially insisted he first entered the bureau on 19 January 2024, the day of the killing. But when confronted with his own earlier statement that he knew the bureau owner well, Tine changed course.
“The owner of the bureau usually invites me to come and have Ataya there,” he said. He acknowledged they were close enough to have taken a trip together.
Also, Arona Tine’s account of his attackers proved equally problematic. He claimed unknown men had struck him on the head during the incident. But when pressed, he admitted he actually knew them. “I know that people came there,” he said.
Still, he could offer little concrete information, only that he recognised their faces and one had a distinctive mark on his head.
When asked why he never identified those men to police if he knew them, Arona Tine said he hadn’t been allowed to mention them in his statement during an earlier legal procedure (voir dire).
On the question of a knife wound on his neck. He admitted placing a knife against his throat, wounding himself. When Justice Jaiteh asked whether the blade was the murder weapon, Tine claimed he found it at the bureau door. “Maybe it was the same knife that was used in the murder of the lady,” he said, describing it as green in colour.
“I never knew that the knife was that sharp,” Tine explained, claiming the injury was accidental.
But Justice Jaiteh pressed him on that point. If he hadn’t intended to wound himself, why would he place a blade to his throat?
When queried on why he did not scream for help in a busy area like Westfield when he was attacked, as claimed, Arona Tine responded that he had nearly fainted after being struck. However, Counsel Gibba pressed further: “So when you gained consciousness, why didn’t you scream for help instead of putting a knife to your throat?”
Arona Tine’s explanation shifted. He said he was “fearful” and did it to scare away a crowd of over 100 people, whom he claimed were trying to kill him. “Before they kill me, I will kill myself first,” he told the court, as he had announced to the crowd.
When Counsel Gibba challenged that narrative, pointing out he could have harmed himself privately if he truly wished to, Tine had no clear answer.
The court played CCTV footage from the scene. When asked if the deceased had emerged from the bureau covered in blood, Arona Tine said he couldn’t answer; he claimed he was unconscious at that moment.
He later insisted the full video wasn’t shown to the court. “The whole video was not played. If that was done, then you would be able to understand what I am trying to say,” he declared.
Arona Tine testified he brought 110,000 Dalasis into the bureau that day. He said he never saw it again after the incident. The court then revealed that the money had been recovered and entered as evidence, but Arona Tine seemed to have forgotten that. He claimed he saw it in court but “didn’t know where the money came from.”
Counsel Gibba summed up the cross-examination, stating: “It was you who killed the Deceased and you putting the knife on your throat to mislead the Court.”
Arona Tine denied that, insisting that full disclosure of the CCTV footage would prove his innocence.
The case was adjourned to 22 July at 11:00 a.m. The proceedings are on the death of Fatoumatta Kargbo, a bureau employee, on 19 January 2024.
