Dad Aboubacarr Drammeh held his nerve and spoke directly to the murderer of his wife and daughters in the dock. He delivered his victim impact statement to the court before loner Jamie Barrow was jailed for a mimimum of 44 years of a life sentence for murdering his family.
As one of the highest minimum terms handed out in the country for murder, Mr Drammeh spoke in court for nearly an hour, impressing on 31-year-old Barrow, who suffered from mental health problems, the ramifications of his murderous arson attack on his family's home.
Addressing Barrow, in his prison-issue pale grey swetshirt top and bottoms in the dock, he said: "I don't know what will happen to you. What I do know...most days it feels like I am serving a life sentence. You, Jamie Edwin Barrow, you acted like the judge and jury that night.
Read more: Live Nottingham court updates as Jamie Barrow sentenced for triple murder
"You sentenced me to this. Whatever my life will become..I don't know..you acted like the judge and jury that day".
Barrow killed Mr Drammeh's loving wife Fatoumatta Hydara, aged 28, and daughters, Fatimah Drammeh, aged three, and 18-month-old Naeemah Drammeh, by pouring petrol through their letterbox and walking away as the fire took hold in the early hours of November 20 last year. The family were rescued by firefighters, but they died of smoke inhalation, after they were overcome by the burning toxic pungent fumes from the petrol.
Mr Drammeh, who continues to live in Minnesota following their deaths, spoke of his hair turning grey every single day as referred to the impact of their deaths. He told Barrow he knew the layout of the flat and knew exactly what he was doing.
Now he fears going into hospitals after building a career to go into health care. He also described how he had to identify the bodies of his wife, who had ambitions to be a nurse, and children on his 40th birthday.
“The impact of your actions span across three continents – Africa, America, and Europe. he added to Barrow.
“As a husband, and a father, you have ruined me. I am irreparable. Your actions are slowly eating me up, and that will continue perhaps until I die. Slowly I am decaying. That is how I feel.”
Mr Drammeh recalled a trip to Gambia with Fatoumatta and the girls, where the family originates from.
He told Barrow: “Fatoumatta and Fatimah had a good time watering my mom’s garden. Little Fatimah enjoyed feeding the goats and sheeps with my Dad. Naeemah was so little, she was not even walking. Because of you, I’m left with pictures and videos. Because of you, we can't repeat those moments.”
Describing his hopes for his daughters, he added: “Fatoumatta and I were grateful and happy to be parents. Our goal was to do our best and raise them to become good citizens.
“We did our best to teach them about our religion as well as cultural and secular matters. Fatoumatta did most of this – she had clear visions and goals for them. She would do anything for them and wanted them to be good citizens.”
Telling Barrow about Fatimah, he revealed the three-year-old enjoyed watching Teletubbies, “pushing a little shopping cart around Lidl” and riding the tram in Nottingham.
“Fatimah loved waving at the tram driver,” Mr Drammeh said. “She also imitated the announcement, ‘This tram is for Clifton South, the next stop is—‘. I can never get those words out of my mind. Because of your actions, I now find it difficult to ride the tram.”
Like her elder sister, Mr Drammeh said one-year-old Naeemah also lived a “short but meaningful life” that had been filled with “joy and happiness”.
He then described the caring and compassionate nature of his late wife, Fatoumatta, who he married in 2014.
“Fatoumatta was modest, honest, and obedient. She maintained and valued her Islamic traditions, African culture, and assimilated into British society. Trust me, she loved fish and chips. We used the same stores you used.
“I lost, her parents lost, her family and friends lost, but Nottingham and the entire UK lost a great human being. She volunteered her time and worked when she could.
“If you had knocked on her door to ask her for help – money, food, someone to talk to, she would have.”
Fatoumatta's mum Aminata Dibba revealed in a statement read to the court by Sarah Knight, on the prosecution team, how on November 20, 2022, she went to Sunday market with the intention of buying toys for her granddaughters.
Fatima wanted building blocks - and Mrs Dibba bought some - toys her beloved granddaughter never got to see. "The day I found out my granddaughters' lives were taken by this monster - it was like at that moment I would be willing to do anything to swap my life for their's".
She was told her daughter was in ICU - and "my heart dropped, I was overcome with confusion, mystery and depression". When she broke the news to her son-in-law, she heard the painful silence on the other end of the phone.
The statement added: “The way I have felt over the past few months after the death of my daughter and granddaughters has been like watching a tragedy and not being able to do anything about it.
“I wake up every day thinking of how I’m going to adapt to the new world I have been forced into by the actions of such a heartless human being.”
After Barrow was sentenced to 44 years on each murder charge and ten years concurrently for arson being reckless, Mr Drammeh spoke outside court to the waiting journalists and said he had no anger against Barrow.
"His actions, though, I hate him, but not himself as a human being. I wish this not on anyone else". He said the 44-year sentence by all standards is "pretty decent. I wouldn't say it is a light sentence at all. I am content with that".
