Liberia News: Who Killed Her ?

Liberia-Wednesday’s acquittal by the Supreme Court of Liberia, Liberia’s arbiter of justice, of former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott and three of her relatives sentenced in connection to the gruesome murder of Charloe Musu is a legal precedence not unique to Liberia, this paper has learned.

But what the landmark ruling that granted total and unconditional freedom to Cllr. Scott and her relatives does not provide is who the actual killers of Musu are, and that is the question Liberians are confronted with since the highest court’s decision.

Now that the previously held alleged killers in Cllr. Scott and her relatives have been set free, the actual killer (s) of the late 23-yr-old is only known to himself and his maker, God Almighty.

Charloe Musu, a 23 year-old college student was found dead on February 22, 2023 in the house of Cllr. Scott, the deceased’s traditional African mother whom she lived with since childhood.

Autopsy conducted on Charloe’s remains revealed she was stabbed multiple times by those the acquitted former Maryland County Senator said wore masks and she did not recognize vividly, but insisted that she confronted the doer in the house and even pepper-sprayed him.

Following weeks of preliminary investigations aimed at establishing evidence and other supporting conclusions, the Liberian National Police (LNP), through the Justice Ministry, arrested Cllr. Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson, and Rebecca Youdeh Wisers on June 21, 2023, “for murder, criminal conspiracy, and false reports to law enforcement officials regarding Charloe Musu.”

A day after her arrest on June 22, the LNP provided detailed information in which they claimed “there was no intruder into the house by their investigations.”

According to the police then, the “defendants killed the deceased, conspired, and reported to LNP that an intruder murdered the victim.”

However, given the gullibility of the Liberian society and overarching wave of politics, the arrest of the former Chief Justice and her relatives took a rather political dimension.

Not many Liberians were convinced that her arrest was legally justified considering the conflicted reports that emerged, while others felt she needed to answer questions to clear name.

It can be recalled that former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf described the arrest of Madam Scott and others as “a sad day and that the justice system has reverted to the bad ways of the past.”

For former Solicitor General Tiawan Gongloe, the arrest was “unfair and unfortunate,” while former TRC Chairman, Cllr. Jerome Verdier, made wide allegation against “Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee of having masterminded the murder carried out by Varlee Telleh,” an employee of the city.

However, after reviewing available information and other essential records, Koijee and Telleh were cleared.

Recall that the court granted Defense request to bring its own pathologist to conduct a second autopsy, and Dr. Mathias Okoye, an International Forensic Pathologist living in the United States, testified that a male fingernail profile appeared on the left hand of the late Charloe Musu, but he could not identify the man in question.

Dr. Okoye emphasized that the blood spattered from the window of the guest room did not show any major DNA profile, and that the blood also spattered from Gloria Musu-Scott’s bedroom on the bedsheets displayed the DNA profile of Charloe Musu.

Dr. Okoye said the DNA profile of the late Charloe Musu was consistent with all the evidence, leading to the complete exclusion of Gloria Musu-Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson, and Rebecca Youdeh Wisner.

“This conclusion was based on comparing the DNA profiles obtained from blood samples of Alice Johnson and Gloria Musu-Scott with the blood spatter found in various locations within the house,” he said in court.

However, Okoye’s autopsy outcome alleged that a DNA sample from Charloe’s fingernails showed that a male intruder committed the murder, in sharp contrast to the first autopsy conducted by Liberian pathologists led by Dr. Benedict Kolee, JFK Hospital’s chief pathologist.

According to Kolee’s account, a female did the killing, and on the witness stand, both pathologists demystified each other.

It can be recalled also that during the trial, the State produced 20 witnesses while the Defense had 11, including Cllr. Scott.

After juxtaposing the legal arguments and presentations of witnesses on both sides, jurors in the Charloe Musu murder case found Cllr. Scott and the three co-defenders guilty of murdering Charloe on December 21, 2023, and were subsequently sentenced on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, by criminal Court C to life in prison.

Not satisfied with the legal ramifications in terms of evidenced upon which the jurors based their judgment, Cllr. Scoot Defense lawyers appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, following months of pensive review of all the facts and evidence as per law, the full bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia undid the Lower Court’s judgment and acquitted the former Chief Justice and her relatives.

The court based its decision on the lack of sufficient evidence to establish a direct link between Justice Scott and her relatives to the crime.

Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh said based on the available legal circumstances, the Supreme Court was left with no option but to reverse the life sentence handed down by Criminal Court ‘A’ Judge Roosevelt Willie.

In its ruling, the Court highlighted significant hiatuses in the prosecution’s case, noting the evidence presented at the trial was inconsequential to meet the standard required for a conviction, especially one carrying such a severe penalty of life imprisonment.

The court has now set the legal precedence, exercising its hyper-authority in legal matters, to free the once accused persons, but what happens next – whether the ruling marks the perpetual end of murder case of the deceased or the state will review the records to pursue the real killer of Charloe – is the unanswered question.

Until then, Liberians will not cease asking or wanting to know the real killer of a little girl whose future was brought to an end by an someone yet to be identified two years after the incident that shook the foundation of the state.

Govt Wants To Know Charloe’s Killer

 

The Liberian government has expressed interest in getting to the nitty-gritty of who may have been responsible for the gruesome murder of Ms Musu Charloe a day after those once found guilty, Gloria Musu Scott and relatives were set free by the Supreme Court of Liberia in a landmark ruling that left the public spellbound.

Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah Thursday said the primary responsibility of the government is to protect lives and properties, and is interested in knowing the killers of one of its citizens.

Minister Piah said for the fact that the court determined that Madam Scott and others were innocent does not conclude the fact that Charloe was not murdered.

He said the fact remains that she was murdered, and if she was murdered, then the government must be interested in knowing who her killers are.

“Now that the people who were accused that the court’s rulings were acted upon, as a government we still being interested in knowing who the killers are” he expressed.

Meanwhile, the government through its spokesperson has welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling adding that it is the final arbitrary of Justice in the Country, so says the law.

Minister Piah averred that the government takes note of the conclusion of the appeal process of the murder case of Madam Scott and others stating that when people believe that they have being unfairly treated at the lower level, the law provides that they can take appeal.

He concluded that as a government, they believe that the rule of law works and as such, they allow the court system to operate very independently and act on the basis of the law.