By Grace Q. Bryant
The Justice in Chamber, Jamesetta Wolokolie, has granted the Writ of Certiorari filed by the defendant Gloria Musu Scott’s lawyers to allow Mayor Jefferson Koijee and others to testify on certain numbers.
It can be recalled that on December 6, lawyers representing the defendants Scott prayed the court to subpoena Mayor Jefferson Tamba Koijee to appear and testify in the proceedings, as relates to allegations made against him by Cllr. Jerome Verdier.
Defense further prayed for a subpoena duces tecum to be issued on numbers owned by Mayor Koijee (0776-407-969 and 0886- 407-969), and that a subpoena duces tecum be issued on Orange to produce the number of Koijee and that of one Mohammed Keita, owner of cell number 0770-430-291.
Defense prayed for a subpoena ad testificandum to be issued on the wife of Varlee Telleh, believed to be using cell number 0776-632-470 to testify to a call made to a number 112001407 on February 22, at the hour of 7:00pm.
Defense also prayed court for a subpoena ad testificandum to be issued on Moses Wright, owner of the number 0775711210, one of the securities of Cllr. Gloria Scott, to testify to a call made on February 21, to the same number that was called on February 22, by the wife of Moses Wright, and the number is 112001407.
Defense further prayed the court for a subpoena duces tecum to be issued on Orange to provide the call log of Moses Wright and the wife of Varlee Telleh for the period February 20 to February 24.
According to defense, the said subpoenas should bear the names of the individuals making calls, photos, locations, and duration of calls.
In resistance to that application, prosecution objected to the issuance of the purported subpoena of the wife of the Varlee Telleh and Jefferson Koji and/or Mohammed Keita, as same are dilatory procedure tactics employed to delay and divert the attention of the court from the issue of the gruesome murder of a citizen of the court, which is being investigated, for which the defendants in the dock have taken the stand and made reference without particularity, material, and specificity, as to any participation or involvement of the purported individual.
Prosecution further explained that during the investigation of the murder of the late Charloe Musu at the Liberia National Police, Mayor Jefferson Koijee appeared before the Liberian Police as a person of interest and made a voluntary statement and, after interrogation of the requested individual call logs, the Liberia National Police exonerated the person and issued a clearance to the Mayor and even Telleh.
Prosecution noted that the LNP also prepared a comprehensive investigative report based on probable cause, holding the defendants in the dock responsible and presented same before the Monrovia City Court and subsequently to the Office of the County Attorney for indictment.
After listening to both sides, Judge Roosevelt Willie ruled that in the application for Mohammed Keita, the defense did not show to the court any documentary evidence or by witness testimony that Mohammed Keita, with whom Jefferson Koijee communicated, or oral evidence, has been presented to the court.
The Judge added that the application that Varlee Telleh’s wife communicated with someone and Moses Wright communicated with the same person is not specified, because the defense has not presented to the court physical or documentary evidence as to the call between Varlee Telleh’s wife and the person who is named.
“It is a fishing expedition as this court has continuously said the defense has the number that was testified to and even has the number according to them for Jefferson Koijee. In order to have physical evidence is to subpoena those numbers from the GSM Companies or the physical evidence that they have that Mohammed Keita was present. But to invite those individuals here without any physical evidence to show, means that those individuals are coming here to testify against themselves and the law does not allow that,” Judge Willie ruled.
Based on the Judge’s decision, the defense lawyers filed a Writ of Certiorari before the High Court requesting the Justice in Chamber to review the Judge Willie’s decision.
