16/12/2025
Justice Jaiteh Issues Stern Warning to Legal Aid Counsel in alleged Murder Trial of Former NAO Staff
Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court has today, December 16th 2025, issued a stern warning to counsel Samuel Ade, from the National Agency for Legal Aid (NALA) for his fourth consecutive absence in the high-profile alleged murder trial of Muhammed Njie, Hadim Jeng, and Muhammed Touray.
The three accused are allegedly charged with the murder of Ousman Jarju, former staff of the National Audit office in September 2021.
State Counsel F. Drammeh brought the matter regarding the non-appearance of Counsel Samuel Ade for the fourth time to the attention of the court and urged the court to make an order for Counsel Ade to be replaced for the matter to continue.
Justice Jaiteh in his ruling sated that Counsel Ade "is urged to be fully aware of his professional obligation as a criminal defense counsel on the code of conduct for legal practitioners 2011."
The judge also underscored that "a legal practitioner is under a strict duty not to abandon an accused person whose liberty and indeed life is at stake and must not absent himself from court proceedings without reason to the court and without prior notice to the court."
Such conduct, Jaiteh ruled, "amount[s] to a serious violation of professional duties and undermined fair administration of criminal justice; "No explanation, justification, or formal application has been provided by Ade or NALA for the repeated non-appearances”.
The court also ordered through NALA's Executive Secretary, directing the agency to account for Ade's whereabouts and status, and to clarify "whether he will remain employment or engagement of the legal agency." Should Ade be unavailable, NALA must "immediately arrange and reassign this case to another competent counsel to ensure that the accused persons are adequately and continuously represented in the interest of justice."
Justice Jaiteh warned that "any failure for Counsel Samuel Ade to appear or any proper representation of the accused persons on the next adjourned date shall formally be passed to the general legal counsel for appropriate disciplinary actions for the violation of legal criminal regulation code of conduct 2011."
The National Agency for Legal Aid is further directed to ensure the accused are "properly and effectively represented" at the next hearing, with Jaiteh advising that "this court order [be] served to the executive secretary of NALA."
The matter is adjourned to January 13, 2026, at 1:30 pm