DENVER (AP) — Suspected of backing a coup plot against the longtime dictator of Gambia nearly 20 years ago, Pharing Sanyang described Thursday how he was beaten with pipes and palm tree branches, pistol-whipped and hit in the face with a hammer.
Particles from the sandy ground of a courtyard in the West Africa nation where the military officer fell during one of the 2006 beatings lodged in his eyes, causing damage requiring several surgeries, he testified.
Sanyang, a former military officer in Gambia, took the stand in federal court in Denver against one of the former soldiers he said beat him — Michael Sang Correa.
Correa is on trial after being indicted in 2020 under a rarely used law that allows people to be prosecuted in the U.S. judicial system for torture allegedly committed abroad.
He is charged with torturing Sanyang and four others and being part of a conspiracy to torture alleged coup plotters while serving with the Junglers, a military unit that reported directly to former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh.
Sanyang told jurors he eventually agreed to sign a false confession but wiped blood from his head onto the paper to show he had been tortured. Then, after refusing to confess on television, he was shocked with wires plugged into a wall socket and beaten again, he said.
Bleeding, he read his confession for the television camera, but only the audio was recorded to conceal the torture, he told the court.
“I had to save my body,” Sanyang said of why he agreed to confess, adding he did not join the failed insurrection against Jammeh, who ousted the previous president of Gambia in a coup of his own in 1994.
Sanyang spent nearly a decade in prison after being convicted of treason and fled to nearby Senegal after his release.
Correa came to the U.S. to serve as a bodyguard for Jammeh in December 2016 and overstayed his visa after Jammeh was ousted in 2017, according to prosecutors. Since sometime after arriving, Correa had been living in Denver and working as a day laborer, they said.
Sanyang and other alleged victims traveled from Gambia, Europe and elsewhere in the U.S. to testify this week about their torture. Prosecutors showed the jury photos of victims with scars left by things including a bayonet, a burning cigarette and ropes. The men were asked to circle scars on photos and explain how they received them.
Correa's lawyers have not disputed that the defendant was involved in Sanyang's torture even though Sanyang said Correa, like the other Junglers, was wearing a face mask. Sanyang said he knew Correa from working with him at the president's official home and recognized his “walking gait.”
But his lawyers argue Correa was a low-ranking private who risked being tortured himself or even killed if he refused Jammeh's orders.
Demba Dem testified Wednesday that his torturers put a black plastic shopping bag over his head and beat him as he was handcuffed.
Another time, they put a heavy bag of sand on his back and then held a piece of hot metal close to his nose. Then they hung him upside down, his wrists and ankles tied, beating him again.
The former teacher who became a member of the Gambian parliament as part of Jammeh's political party said Correa used a stick to beat him.
Dem, who said he was not part of the planned coup, later moved to the Netherlands with his family after seeking asylum and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was reluctant to talk on the witness stand about the impact the torture had on his life other than saying it was “very bad” and asking a prosecutor to move on.
Still, Dem said he was “happy” to be in court to try to hold one of his abusers accountable.
“I have to do it but I feel satisfied,” he said.
The trial is scheduled to continue into next week.
In 2021, a truth commission in Gambia urged that the perpetrators of crimes committed under Jammeh's regime be prosecuted by the government. Other countries have also tried people connected with his rule.
Last year, Jammeh’s former interior minister was sentenced to 20 years behind bars by a Swiss court for crimes against humanity. In 2023, a German court convicted a Gambian man who was also a member of the Junglers of murder and crimes against humanity for involvement in the killing of government critics in Gambia.
FILE - This photo shows the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse in Denver on March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Colleen Slevin, file)
Demba Dem is photographed outside Denver federal court in Denver, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, after he testifying in the trial of Michael Sang Correa. (AP Photo/Colleen Slevin)
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Scottie Scheffler is happy to be back at his hometown event and showed it.
Cameron Champ isn't far from familiar territory, either, which is a good thing considering he got the call that he was in the Byron Nelson as an alternate about 18 hours before his tee time.
Scheffler made the turn in 29 on his way to a 10-under 61 for a two-shot lead over Rico Hoey and Jhonattan Vegas, with Champ among seven players another shot back at 64.
Defending champion Taylor Pendrith shot 67 with players allowed to lift, clean and replace their shots in the fairways after the par-71 TPC Craig Ranch got heavy rainfall Wednesday.
The top-ranked Scheffler outshined fellow hometown star Jordan Spieth with the former Texas Longhorns paired together along with Si Woo Kim, a South Korean who also calls Dallas home and was showcased in an event sponsored by CJ Group, a conglomerate based in his home country.
Kim shot 67, capping his round with a lofty chip-in for eagle at the par-5 18th and rolling onto his back in celebration. Spieth is 2 under. Vegas, another Texas alum, had a bogey-free round along with Scheffler and Hoey.
The others at 7 under with Champ are Stephan Jaeger, Michael Thorbjornsen, Eric Cole, Andrew Putnam, Patton Kizzire and Will Gordon.
Scheffler missed last year's event in Dallas' northern suburb of McKinney for the birth of his first child, son Bennett.
“Jordan and I love playing here. This tournament has meant a lot to us over the years,” Scheffler said. “Obviously last year I was missing for some pretty good reasons. I wasn't too sad about what was going on in my life at the time.”
Back then, he had 10 wins combined before May over a three-year stretch, including the Masters and Players Championship twice each. Now, Scheffler is still seeking the first victory of 2025.
Not that he was playing poorly before posting his lowest round of the year. Scheffler finished fourth as the defending champion at Augusta and has four other top-10 finishes this year.
“I wouldn't say anxious or eager, anything like that,” the 13-time winner said of seeking his first victory in 2025. “I got off to a pretty good start today, and there's three more days of the tournament. Just focused on going home and getting some rest.”
Scheffler birdied four consecutive holes on the front nine and added one more before putting his approach at the par-5 ninth inside 5 feet for an eagle to get to 7 under.
A chip for birdie stopped on the lip at the par-4 11th, the second of three consecutive pars before he pulled even with Hoey with a birdie at 13. Scheffler took the lead by putting his tee shot on the stadium hole — the par-3 17th — inside 3 feet.
Hoey, a 29-year-old from the Philippines seeking his first PGA Tour victory, started with eight pars on the back nine before an eagle on 18 triggered an 8-under finish over his final 10 holes. His 63 tied his career low on the PGA Tour. Hoey's best finish this year also was in Texas, a tie for 11th at the Houston Open.
“It’s been up and down, but from the start of the last season and comparing it, I think I’m doing a way better job,” said Hoey, who won on the Canadian tour in 2017 and the Korn Ferry circuit two years ago. “Just feel like there are rounds I’ve been clicking; other rounds I haven’t put it up. Kind of nice to get the momentum rolling now.”
Champ, who lives in Houston and played at Texas A&M, was home when he got the call that he was replacing Gary Woodland, who withdrew. He made it to the Dallas area Wednesday night and countered two bogeys in his first three holes with nine birdies.
The 29-year-old from California won three times from 2019-21 but missed 35 of 55 cuts over the previous two years. This is just his fourth start of 2025.
“Considering last year, how many cuts I missed by one, it was like 11 or 12 or something, I haven’t really been playing that bad,” Champ said. “The last two years is probably the hardest I’ve ever worked. Feel like my physical abilities are there. It’s just getting back to the right mental state.”
Spieth and Danny Walker had to pause to clean spikes after wayward tee shots into muddy territory. Walker's cleaning delay lasted several minutes, including others helping by splashing the soles with bottled water.
Walker, playing in the group ahead of Spieth, ended up with a bogey on the par-4 11th on his way to a 68. Spieth scrambled for a par-4 at No. 3 after barely missing the water while putting his tee shot in a waste area.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Cameron Champ watches his shot off the ninth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Si Woo Kim hits off the sixth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Jordan Spieth, left, and Scottie Scheffler, right, walk the sixth fairway together during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Jordan Spieth follows through on his shot off the sixth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Rico Hoey, right, and his caddie approach the 8th green during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Scottie Scheffler watches his drive on the sixth tee during the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
