The late Deyda Hydara was the co-founder, publisher and editor of The Point newspaper in The Gambia. He was a reputable journalist. According to the plaintiffs the deceased devoted his life to protecting media freedom in The Gambia. The plaintiffs averred that in the weeks preceding his death the deceased received several death threats in connection with his jou rnalistic work. They contended that on the day of his demise a person suspected to be an operative of the state security service placed the deceased under constant surveillance. He was murdered in a drive by shooting on the night of 16th December 2004 whilst in the company of two employees of The Point newspaper. It is the plaintiffs' case that the defendant failed to carry out effective investigation into the murder of Deyda Hydara Sr; they also averred that the Serious Crimes Unit of The Gambia police as well as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) did not do any thorough investigations. They claimed that these investigative organs of state failed to investigate eye-witness evidence; crime scene evidence; ballistic evidence; death threats to· Mr. Hydara; apparent Government surveillance of Mr. Hydara on the day of the incident; potential suspects as well as any motive other than personal revenge. The plaintiffs claimed that no public scrutiny of the investigations was allowed. And the government was quick to prosecute seven journalists for sedition when they spoke out against the failure to investigate the murder. Likewise the family of the deceased was not involved in the investigations. On the claim founded on a climate of impunity, the plaintiffs averred that the defendant tolerated attacks against journalists, among others. They cited specific instances of such abuse which the State did not care to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. According to the plaintiffs by failing to effectively investigate multiple attacks against the media stretching for several years prior to the Hydara assassination, the Gambian authorities created and tolerated a climate of complete impunity that did nothing to deter and inevitably contributed to the attack on Mr. Hydara's life. 3