Maid denies stealing over D700k worth of jewellery from employer

By Fatou Gassama

One Hoja Faal was yesterday arraigned at the Brusubi magistrate’s court accused of stealing jewellery worth over D740,000 from her employer, Aja Awa Nyang. The missing items include a gold finger ring valued at D302,950,00; one wrist bangle valued at D365,000,00 and a gold chain valued at D 73,000,00

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge against her.

Testifying as the first prosecution witness, the employer of the accused Aja Awa Nyang, told the court that the accused  has been working for her for nearly five years, adding that even though other people live in the compound, they are in different buildings and only the accused had access to her bedroom.

She said before she left for the US last December she gave the accused three keys, for her bedroom, supermarket and the back door.

She said upon her return to The Gambia in January, she noticed that the items were missing from her jewellery boxes and came to  suspect that it was the accused person who stole them since  only she had access to the bedroom.

She said she had asked the accused who denied taking the items from the house after which she decided to report the matter to the police leading to the charges.

The accused was granted bail in the sum of D300,000 and the matter adjourned to today for continuation of  the testimony by the witness.