By Precious D. Freeman
Defendant Lucas Richards, a 32-year-old American national, who allegedly attempted to slit the neck of his wife, Jessica Lloyd, is expected to take the witness stand Today, Monday, March 24, 2024
The incident occurred on September 14, 2023, in the Dixville Community; the defendant was arrested, charged, and indicted by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County on double charges, to include Aggravated Assault and Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder.
Jessica Lloyd while on the witness stand and narrated that prior to his arrest, she got to know defendant Richards from the Bible school where he (Lucas Richards) usually went to teach.
When Lloyd was asked by the Jury de-facto, as to what specific topic Lucas was teaching her in the school, she told the court that he lectured on “Walking with Jesus,” noting that she met Lucas in April of 2023, and got married traditionally on May 19, 2023 to him.
When quizzed as to when she (Jessica) got to know that the defendant had another relationship back home in the United States, Jessica explained that she got to know about Lucas’s wife when he (Lucas) was introduced to the class and he later told her everything when they started their love affair.
Judge Nuta questioned Jessica if there were any reasons for the school denying her from graduating, and she answered in the affirmative, and stated that her outreach director in the school saw pictures of them in her phone that got missing from her, so that’s how the school knew that they were in a relationship, and “they confronted me and I admitted to it, so that’s how I was stopped from graduating from the school.”
She added that Lucas told her that his church permits multiple marriages, so it was not wrong to get married to her while he’s already married.
According to her, before September 14, 2023, she got pregnant so she told Lucas about it and he pretended that he was happy and gave her money to start the treatment at ELWA Hospital.
She also narrated that Lucas went to her house on September 14, 2023, because he earlier injected her with something that caused her pregnancy to spoil, so Lucas came to apologize and bought some fruits to nourish and keep her strong, and he later gave her another money for her upkeep and she gave it to her mother to keep it because Lucas asked her to go with him to get the balance stuff that he did not find.
She said Lucas had earlier given her injection so her stomach was hurting but when he asked her to go with him to get some items, she agreed so they both left her house.
Jessica narrated that they went to the Harbel Supermarket in Gardnersville, and after a while, left the place and went to Patience Shop, and later, her husband Lucas took Johnsonville Road where he stopped to a place where zogos were and asked them for direction and they showed them the way.
According to her, when they got to the place which she didn’t know, Lucas parked the car and he told her to get down because he wanted to ease himself and he took a knife along because he told her he was going to use it on a snake if they came across it in the bush.
She further said, after a while, they got on the car and he drove away, but again he said that he wanted to urinate again and he wanted Jessica to cover him up while urinating, but she said she refused so he did not urinate again but drove away the car to Dixville area.
Jessica explained that they got to a cemetery and her husband asked her to accompany him to go read on the graves, the names of those who had died, but she again refused his request, and he then drove away.
Before getting to where the incident occurred, Lucas gave her one tablet because she was still complaining about her stomach hurting; after a little ride, he parked the car and told her that the back tyre had a problem, so he wanted her to help him, so she did.
She indicated that while helping him with his car, he came close to her, playing with her and opening it up for over 10-15 minutes, and she was hit at the back of her head and fell down.
According to her, while fighting to get up from the ground, Lucas was standing looking at her; so, she managed to get up, but the defendant pushed her to the ground and she could feel his heavy weight over her as she was vibrating on the ground.
She furthered that Lucas later escaped the scene due to the angry crow but while she managed to get in the car with him, he hit her again with the car door and escaped.
During the trial on Friday, March 22, 2024, prosecuting attorneys rested with their oral and written pieces of evidence after producing several witnesses to testify and those witnesses were Cynthia Lloyd, Nancy Borbor, Charlie N. Kimpie, and Deazee Saywon and Jessica, herself, among others.
