A twenty-two year old Gambian school leaver, Fadua Conteh, was beaten by
police attached to the Tourism Development Area (TDA) and was hospitalised as
a result, according to his father, Mr Ousman Conteh.

Mr Conteh told The Independent that his son was admitted at the Royal Victoria
Hospital Eye Ward to undergo treatment for wounds sustained during the
beatings. He said doctors were treating damages to his son's left eye. 

Mr Conteh described the police attack as 'brutal, unprovoked and unjustified'.
He said that his son had gone to Cape Point to see the general manager of the
Cape Point Hotel, Mr. Ebrima Bojang, to receive some money from his mother who
lives in Sweden.

That was when, according to Fadua, the police stopped him and started beating
him with a hard water hose.

The police were very brutal and unfriendly when I went to the Cape Point
Police station to enquire as to why my boy was brutalised,' Mr Conteh said.

He said he then went to the Bakau Police station and complained to the Officer
in Charge, Inspector Sanneh. The officer expressed regret at the action and
took Fadua to the Bakau dispensary for treatment.

'I later took my son to RVH for better treatment. My boy was beaten at about
midday and he only received proper treatment at about 5pm,' he said.

The concerned father was outraged, 'my boy really suffered and is still
suffering. He is not a bumster or a thief. He has just left school, why should
he be brutalised?'

Mr. Conteh said he has decided to take the police to court for damages done to
his son.'Even my boy is not ready for compromise,' Conteh said.Meanwhile, this
paper has been reliably informed that Fadua was early last week discharged
from the RVH..


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