By Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
On Tuesday, January 9, 2023, the Supreme Court fell into total quietude as family and friends, as well as local and foreign legal luminaries, listened and watched from far and near as former Chief Justice of Liberia, Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, and three others, were sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie of Criminal Court “A” at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia.
Justice Musu-Scott, for now, is the only Liberian woman who has served in all three branches of government at the highest level with distinction. However, the once Justice Minister, Senator for Maryland County, and Chief Justice of the Republic of Liberia, and three of her family members, including Rebecca Wisner, Alice Johnson, and Getrude Newton, stood trial for murdering her niece, Charloe Musu, on February 22, 2023, and were adjudged guilty on December 21, 2023 by 11 out of 12 jurors.
The judge’s decision was based on the investigative report from the probation officers of the Ministry of Justice, in connection with their characters and behavior within the community where they lived before the death of Charloe Musu on February 22, 2023, at their Brewerville residence outside Monrovia.
The pre-sentencing investigation by the probation officers was read in open court, which stated that all of the four defendants do not have prior criminal records before the murder trial.
According to the report, the probation officer further recommended that, based on their investigative report, the court should take judicial notice while sentencing the defendants, since they do not have prior criminal records.
The investigative reports included accounts from the late Charloe’s father, Cllr. Scott’s community chairperson, and a few neighbors, who all spoke positively about the defendants, noting that despite their political and social statuses, Cllr. Scott and her family lived peaceably with them and participated in all community-initiated activities. But yet, Judge Willie awarded them life imprisonment.
But what may have turned the entire trial into a politically-influenced legal drama, to an extent where many persons began noticing the alleged biasness of the court, is the denial of key motions in favor of the defendants, such as self-representation, change of venue, among others.
But the case got dramatic when Monrovia City Mayor, Jefferson Koijee, found it difficult to answer to some questions regarding the inactiveness of one of his Orange GSM telephone numbers, which was the subject of his testimony.
Mayor Koijee was accused of being a mediator between himself, Varlee Telleh, and one Moses Wright, a private security officer assigned at former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott’s home prior to Charloe’s death on February 22.
It was based on the accusation that he (Koijee) was subpoenaed by the court to appear and testify on the number 0776-407-969, which, initially, the defense lawyers said was the medium of communication between Koijee and his co-conspirators, (Telleh and Wright).
During the trial, the Orange GSM Company said the phone number 0776-407-969 in question was not active, or was blocked, but the number was registered in Koijee’s name. When Koijee was asked if he knew that the number was inactive, he could neither deny nor admit, but rather spoke of a relationship between him and one Mohammed Keita, believed to be one of his strongest allies, when the murder was committed.
Also, when quizzed about the relationship between him (Koijee) and Varlee, the MCC mayor observed that he didn’t know from which perspective the defense intends to know the level of communication between them, but that Telleh, who works at the Monrovia City Corporation, has never met Mohammed Keita before, and his call logs were made available to the Ministry of Justice which are available for verification. Nevertheless, he acknowledged knowing Varlee Telleh, who is, accordingly, a patrolman of the Monrovia City Police, but maintained that he has no ambiguous dealing with Telleh, as discerned by the defense.
But the case got more dramatic when the prosecution rebuttal witness, Benedict Kolee, refuted defense witness, Matthua I. Okoye’s autopsy report, stating that the evidence by the defense pathologist was erroneous and designed to distort scientific principles.
Kolee admitted that there were some factual evidences presented by the defense team, but, according to him, most of the quotations in the report lacked scientific proof.
Defense pathologist Okoye, in the Charloe Musu Murder case, informed the court that a male DNA was found in the middle left-hand fingernail of the deceased Charloe Musu, contrary to the prosecution report that no male DNA was found on the deceased.
Okoye, who came from the Nebraska Institute of Forensic Sciences, Lincoln, USA, is himself a forensic pathologist, scientist pathologist, clinical pathologist, and an attorney, a member of the American Board of Medicine, and has conducted over twenty thousand autopsies in the USA and Africa, including four in Liberia (Angel Togba).
Among several outcomes from his autopsy conducted, he noted that the victim, Charloe Musu, died of blunt force trauma as a result of multiple stabbing wounds, and that the stabbings were caused by an instrument which is not a knife, noting that the stabbings were caused or done by a muscular male and none of the defendants could have caused any of those wounds.
According to the clinical pathologist, there was a foreign DNA of a male found in the middle fingernail of the left hand of the victim, adding that all DNA profiles from the victim excluded all the defendants.
But the learned pathologist and lawyer’s findings were soon trashed by the prosecution pathologist, Benedict Kolee, who noted that, despite the autopsy might have figured out a male DNA, the late Charloe Musu came in contact with many people who touched her and backed her, and in the process, many parts of her body, including her extremities, (left, right hands, foot) came into contact, potentially leading to the exchange of DNA on parts of her body.
He said that a first autopsy was performed by him, during which he had a lot of male and female attendants, and during then, the body was being packaged and placed in a fridge and all the attendants came in contact with the deceased.
However, Kolee did not state whether he and others who conducted said autopsy, were professionally attired in their PPE, as a normal practice, owing to his statement that the body might have come in contact with those on the scene, which contaminated the body.
When questioned about a male DNA found in the middle left-hand fingernail of the deceased, Kolee noted that the body portion in question has a minor discovery on the left hand, and as such, the contamination occurred after the deceased’s hand may have come in contact with a male person who might have been carrying her from the house during the period of the incident.
According to Kolee, the statement by Okoye that a total of 14 samples were said to have been taken, nine from the crime scene and five reference samples from deceased and prime suspects, is intended to generate a particular report against the principle of science.
Kolee, who has practiced as a pathologist for four years, declared Okoye’s report, which stated that there was a minor contributor in a sample that he described as erroneous, unfair, and against the principles of science.
However, he agreed with Okoye on the report that stated that if a male committed a crime and is unwilling to show up for testing, his father or paternal family member can be tested.
Kolee, who concurred with his opponent, said that there was a 99.9 percent sense in Okoye’s report, and yet described the report as erroneous and containing a mixture and omission of facts.
From the conflicting testimonies from Mayor Koijee, Varlee Telleh, as well as agreements and disagreements on the part of the prosecution’s lead pathologist, witnesses, the judge, and even the verdict from the jurors, I am of the conviction that that was a case of “No head, no tail” and that Madam Scott and her family were caught in a web of conspiracy while the real killer of Charloe is somewhere out there drinking palm wine or smoking cigar.
*The thought of the son of a professional Kru woman.
