Four Years Later: Supreme Court orders fresh trial for Kumba Sinyan Murder Case
The prosecutors alleged that on September 14, 2022, she killed her ex-boyfriend, Momodou Lamarana Jallow, an IT staff member at the [Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI)] by cutting his stomach with a razor blade at the Friendship Hostel in Bakau Sinyan has pleaded not guilty. In her testimony, she claimed she unintentionally killed Jallow in self-defence during a violent physical struggle where he allegedly attempted to assault her sexually. After calling 10 witnesses, tendering 18 exhibits, prosecution rested its case in March 2024. The trial hit a procedural complication in late 2024 when the original trial judge, Hon. Justice Sidi K. Jobarteh, went on maternity leave. Upon her return, the Chief Justice Hassan B. Jallow reassigned the case to Hon. Justice Adenike J. Coker. Hon. Justice Coker, while citing the High Court's Practice Directions from 2013 and 2019, ruled in early 2025 that because the case was reassigned to a new judge in a capital offence trial, it must undergo a de novo (completely fresh) trial. The state vehemently opposed restarting the case, arguing that it would waste judicial resources and compromise witness availability. The State appealed the ruling directly to the Supreme Court. On 8 July 2026, the Supreme Court in a ruling delivered by Hon. Justice Cherno Jallow dismissed the state’s appeal and ordered a restart of the case.
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The prosecutors alleged that on September 14, 2022, she killed her ex-boyfriend, Momodou Lamarana Jallow, an IT staff member at the [Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI)] by cutting his stomach with a razor blade at the Friendship Hostel in Bakau
Sinyan has pleaded not guilty. In her testimony, she claimed she unintentionally killed Jallow in self-defence during a violent physical struggle where he allegedly attempted to assault her sexually.
After calling 10 witnesses, tendering 18 exhibits, prosecution rested its case in March 2024. The trial hit a procedural complication in late 2024 when the original trial judge, Hon. Justice Sidi K. Jobarteh, went on maternity leave. Upon her return, the Chief Justice Hassan B. Jallow reassigned the case to Hon. Justice Adenike J. Coker.
Hon. Justice Coker, while citing the High Court's Practice Directions from 2013 and 2019, ruled in early 2025 that because the case was reassigned to a new judge in a capital offence trial, it must undergo a de novo (completely fresh) trial.
The state vehemently opposed restarting the case, arguing that it would waste judicial resources and compromise witness availability. The State appealed the ruling directly to the Supreme Court.
On 8 July 2026, the Supreme Court in a ruling delivered by Hon. Justice Cherno Jallow dismissed the state’s appeal and ordered a restart of the case.
