Speaking calmly through tears in a hearing streamed live on YouTube, former beauty queen Fatou Jallow told how former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh locked her in a room and raped her.

The 23-year-old's testimony on Thursday concluded three weeks of public hearings dedicated to sexual and gender-based violence under Jammeh's presidency, part of a broader probe by the current administration into abuses during his tenure.

"Yahya Jammeh did not want sex with me or pleasure with me. What he wanted to do was hurt me," said Jallow, explaining that he violently assaulted her after she refused his advances.