By Grace Q. Bryant
The Liberia National Police have charged and sent suspect Darius Toweh and others to court for Rioting, Failure to Disperse, Reckessly Endangering Another Person and Criminal solicitation.
The charges followed a Writ of Habeas Corpus issued the Minister of Justice and the Inspector General of the Liberia National Police on Friday August 12, by Judge Blamo Dixon of Criminal Court ‘C’ for their refusal to charge defendant Toweh after 48 hours of detention.
It can be recalled that suspect Toweh was arrested by members of the Liberia National Police following his involvement in the disturbance at the African Methodist Episcopal University on August 10, 2022.
According to police charge sheet, on August 10, while students were carrying on several activities including, graduating senior students who were defending their Thesis on the campus, the defendant allegedly went insinuating that students were at risk due to administration’s failure to prevent Abdurrahman Barry from defending his thesis.
Police investigation furthered that defendant Toweh, a 2020 graduate of the AMEU-University had gone on campus requesting the school’s administration not to allow Abdurrahman Barry to be on campus as he was involved in the July 26 violence that took place near the US embassy in Monrovia.
Defendant Toweh who is not a current student of the school engaged several people on the campus demanding that Barry should not be allowed to defend his thesis and thereafter, he entered the library where seniors were defending their thesis, but didn’t get hold of Barry, who at the time had left after his thesis defense.
The investigation revealed that Defendant Toweh, Alvin Koffa and Lebron Kaba including others to be identified later threw stones at both graduates and undergraduates and building thereby damaging a light bulb installed on the concrete fence of the graduate school.
While in the process, according to investigation, a student from the Economics Department, James K. Yillah sustained wound on his left hand.
During the investigation, it was established that defendant Toweh is an affiliate of the Student Unification Party while his accomplices are not members.
The defendant is said to be in violation of chapter 17, 14, 15 and 10 section 17.1, 14.20, 14.23, 15.5, 17.3 and 10.3 of the revised penal law of the Republic of Liberia thus was charged with the Commission of the crime “Rioting, Failure to Disperse, Recklessly Endangering Another Person, Criminal Mischief, Aggravated Assault, Disorderly Conduct and Criminal Conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the defendant was released on criminal bond.
