Shepherd Nabbed for Attempted Rape

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Musa Ndow

31 May 2011

Police have arrested and detained a Senegalese national said to be a shepherd for allegedly attempting to rape a 47-year-old woman.

The incident, which took place between Toniataba and Karantaba Dutokoto in the Sami District of Central River Region North, involved Haruna Jallow, age 20, and Arajana Ceesay, the victim. Ceesay told the Daily Observer in a telephone interview Monday that the incident happened last Thursday, while she was on her way to Toniataba from Karantaba Dutokoto. She said she met the accused standing near the road, and he stopped her and asked if she had some tablets for his cattle. She said she told him she didn’t think she was the right person to be approached for that kind of medicine.

She further explained: “At that juncture, the accused turned back on me and said in fact I want sex, not medicine. I thought he was just joking and I told him, look, even my last son could be older than you, go and look for your companions. As I tried to pass him and go, he gripped me and held my dress tight while I tried to defend myself. He pulled me down and in the process I saw a stick and I picked it and hit him with it. When he was about to overcome me, I shouted for help and it was that moment that he let go of me.”

Ceesay said she then rushed home to inform her son, who with the support of his senior brothers, went to the scene of the incident and found the boy near the area. She said they apprehended him and later handed him over to the officers at the Karantaba Police Post, who later forwarded the matter to Bansang Police Station.

Dawda Camara, the son of the victim said his mother ran home and narrrated the incident to them. He said they then rushed to the place and found the sum of D135 believed to belong to the accused. Dawda explained that the money was handed over to the police for evidence and other items.

When contacted to shed light on the story, the police spokesperson, ASP Yerro Mballow promised to confirm the story from the said police station, but was yet to reach back to this paper up to the time of going to press.

Meanwhile the accused is in custody at Bansang Police Station.

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