Charged with murder, pedophilia, and abduction of a minor, 29-year-old SA Fall was tried on November 27, 2023, by the criminal chamber of the Thiès High Court. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Following this initial ruling, SA Fall's lawyers appealed. The case is being retried this Tuesday, December 23, by the Thiès Court of Appeal.

In court, the defendant reiterated that he had killed 15-year-old K. Diouf. He then explained how he killed the victim, with whom he had a romantic relationship.

These events took place in March 2020 in Thiès. Initially, SA Fall stated that his girlfriend, K. Diouf, had identified him as the father of her alleged pregnancy. He explained that to prevent the matter from becoming public knowledge and potentially damaging the honor of his religious family, he first asked her to keep quiet until he could find a solution.

He recounts that he gave K. Diouf 10,000 FCFA to take a pregnancy test to verify the accusations. Following this, the girl returned to him with a prescription that seemed to confirm the pregnancy.

SA Fall went on to say that it was at this point that he asked K. Diouf to go together to a quiet place to discuss the situation. He added that he had taken his older brother's vehicle to pick up the girl from her home, accompanied by Mame Thierno, one of his father's disciples. A few meters from K. Diouf's house, he explained, he parked the vehicle and left Mame Thierno to go and call the girl.

Having done this, Serigne Assane Fall stated that he drove K. Diouf away from any houses, right in front of the "Dalal Xel" hospital in Thiès. There, the two began a serious discussion about the pregnancy. SA Fall stated that when he asked the girl again about her pregnancy, she reaffirmed her statement. The defendant emphasized that when he shouted at her, the girl changed her story, announcing that her uncle was the father of her child.

Continuing, SA Fall stated that he then invited the girl to leave the front seats of the vehicle and sit with him in the back. He strangled her first with his hands and then with the drawstring of his baggy pants until she died. "I strangled her because I felt betrayed when she finally told me that it was her uncle who got her pregnant. I didn't intend to kill her. She was my girlfriend and I wanted to marry her. It was an accident. I made a mistake and I ask her family for forgiveness," he confessed.

SA Fall reaffirmed that after committing the crime, he placed K. Diouf's body in the trunk of his vehicle and drove to dump it by the roadside, opposite the "Dalal Xel" hospital. He then calmly returned home, where he removed his blood-stained clothes and hid them in his mother's wardrobe.

K. Diouf's body was later discovered around 2 a.m. by passersby. They believed the girl had been the victim of a road accident and alerted the fire department and officers from the central police station in Thiès.

K. Diouf's mother stated that she learned of her daughter's death on social media. She emphasized that she was unaware of the relationship between the accused and the victim. She demanded 20 million FCFA in damages.

As for Mame Thierno, he specified that he had left SA Fall and K. Diouf alone when he finished taking the girl out of his home, and that it was the next day, around 4 p.m., that he learned the bad news.

The midwife who performed the pregnancy test confirmed that K. Diouf was not pregnant.

The defendant's lawyers argued for the review of the initial judgment and the reclassification of the charges from assassination to murder, because they believe that SA Fall did not premeditate his crime.

For his part, the public prosecutor asked the judge to partially overturn the initial ruling by reducing the charge from assassination to murder, because he doubted premeditation. He then requested a 20-year prison sentence.

The verdict is expected soon to determine the defendant's guilt in the face of the murder charges.