Shepherd G. Ba appeared in court to answer charges of cattle theft and illegal possession of a firearm. He is accused of stealing 18 goats belonging to herder Gana in the locality of Pékesse, located in the department of Tivaouane.

But the defendant denied the accusations. He explained that he was actually looking for his lost goat when he was stopped by armed individuals.

“I was looking for my lost goat. When they came across me, they intercepted me and accused me of stealing their goats. Then they brandished weapons to attack me. There were many of them against me alone. That is why I also brandished my machete to defend myself,” G. Ba explained in court.

For his part, the plaintiff, the herder Gana, gave a completely different version of events. According to him, his animals disappeared while he was at the mosque performing Friday prayers. "I had left my goats at home to go and pray on Friday. It was only afterward that someone came to tell me they had been taken away."

Accompanied by several people, Gana then set out to find his herd before finding the defendant with the goats. "We went looking for them and we saw G. Ba leading them," he maintained. He is claiming 700,000 CFA francs in damages.

During the proceedings, the public prosecutor requested that the charges be reduced to attempted robbery and illegal possession of a firearm. Considering the evidence sufficiently substantiated, he requested a two-year prison sentence for the defendant.

But the defense argued for acquittal based on reasonable doubt. G. Ba's lawyer maintained that the goats were roaming freely and that there was no physical evidence to prove his client had actually stolen them. "We didn't see the defendant leading the goats. There is no objective evidence to support a conviction," he argued.

The court acquitted the defendant due to reasonable doubt.