By Grace Q. Bryant
The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the lower court’s decision by sentencing Jonathan Williams to life imprisonment for murdering journalist Tyron Brown in April, 2018.
Journalist Brown, an employee of Kool FM at the time of his demise, was murdered by now convicted Williams within the Duport road community.
Brown’s body was discovered on April 16, 2018 and during the investigation by the Liberian National Police, it was established that the deceased was last seen at Mr. Williams’ residence where he had gone to see his girlfriend, identified as Edwina Youtee when the incident occurred.
The indictment further stated that the compound where convict Williams occupied along with his two nieces, Edwina Promise Yuotee and Alice Yourtee is owned by one, Dr. Jerret.
According to the report, while in the compound, the deceased was allegedly stabbed by Mr. Williams multiple times on his upper back with a knife and twice in the left rib and thereafter abandoned by the convict along the road side within the same vicinity.
Convict William on March 17, 2020 was adjudged guilty by the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Bomi County and sentenced to life in prison, but his lawyers took appeal to the Supreme Court, alleging that he was abnormal and had some mental issues.
On Monday September 5, 2022 the Supreme Court in its final judgment opined that Mr. Williams is guilty of the crime ‘Murder’ and granted the lower court’s verdict of life imprisonment.
In the Supreme Court’s final judgment, it was noted that proof of insanity lies within the preview of an expert witness, but in the instant case, the defendant’s assertion that he was insane was insufficient to establish proof of his insanity.
The court cited that for a person to be entitled to self-defense, he must have used force on another person when he believes that such force is necessary for protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by another person.
The Supreme Court maintained that, the ruling in the instant case is based on evidence that the victim was vulnerable and was impaled in the rear which resulted to his demise and as such, adding that the claim of self-defense cannot be upheld.
“The prosecution’s proof in the case is beyond all reasonable doubt that Williams had hatefully stabbed the victim, drove him, and dumped his unconscious body on the roadside and subsequently taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival by medical personnel,” the high court’s ruling note.
The act of convict Williams is said to be the manifestation of the purposeful killing of another person as enshrined in the Penal Law Revised: 26:14.1, thus declaring him guilty of the crime murder.
The Supreme Court has however given the subordinate court full jurisdiction over the case to rule and conclude judgment as was earlier done in March of 2020 in Bomi County, where the case was tried.
