Gambiaj.com – (EDINBURGH, United Kingdom) – A Gambian man who brutally stabbed his wife to death in their Edinburgh home while their children were inside the house has been told he faces a mandatory life sentence after admitting to the killing.
Momodou Bobb, 56, pleaded guilty at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh to murdering his wife, Ndata Secka, during a violent knife attack that left the 42-year-old with at least 22 stab wounds.
The court heard that the killing occurred between August 27 and 28, 2025, at the family’s flat on Restalrig Avenue. During the attack, the couple’s four children were in the home.
Presiding judge Lady Haldane told Bobb that under Scottish law the punishment for murder is life imprisonment. She said the court would later determine the “punishment part” of the sentence, the minimum period he must serve before becoming eligible to apply for parole.
“You have pleaded guilty to the murder of your wife Ndata Secka in August of 2025,” the judge told him. “She was not only your wife but also a mother of four children, three of whom were also your children and one your stepchild.”
Lady Haldane described the loss as devastating for the victim’s relatives, noting that Secka came from a large family and was deeply loved.
“Ndata came from a large family and was much loved,” she said. “The tragedy of her loss to all who knew and loved her is therefore immense.”
Brutal Attack
Prosecutor Lisa Gillespie, KC, told the court that Secka suffered multiple stab wounds to her face, head, neck, chest, back, arm, and abdomen during what was described as a frenzied assault.
Police were alerted in the early hours of August 28 after a 999 emergency call reporting a fight at the home. When officers arrived, Bobb opened the door wearing boxer shorts with blood on his hands, chest, and feet.
Despite the circumstances, prosecutors said he appeared calm and motioned officers into the house.
Inside the living room, officers found Secka lying face down on the floor with severe injuries and blood pooled around her body and splattered on a nearby wall. Two blood-stained knives were later discovered on a kitchen table.
Emergency responders attempted to revive the victim before she was rushed to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where doctors tried unsuccessfully to save her life.
A post-mortem examination concluded that the fatal injury was a seven-centimeter-deep stab wound to the neck that severed her jugular vein.
Claim of Accident
While receiving treatment for knife wounds to his hand after the attack, Bobb reportedly told medical staff that he and his wife had been fighting and that he was holding a knife which had “slipped”.
However, prosecutors said the number and severity of the wounds contradicted that claim.
Family Background
The court heard that Secka, originally from The Gambia, was one of 15 siblings and half-siblings. She married her first husband in 2011 and had a son with him before he died from cancer.
She later married Bobb in 2015, and the couple had three children together. In 2018 she moved from The Gambia to the United Kingdom to live with him.
Bobb had earlier migrated to the UK in 1995. The family moved into the Edinburgh flat in December 2023 after Secka secured the tenancy.
Bobb, who followed the proceedings via a prison video link, is a first-time offender. The court deferred sentencing to allow for the preparation of a background report before the minimum term of his life sentence is determined.
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