By Grace Q. Bryant
A 50 year old man identified as Samuel A. Porte, has been sent to the Monrovia Central Prison, for allegedly butchering his wife for cooking cassava leaves in the Crozierville Community.
According to the police charge sheet, defendant Porte was charged with the crimes of Murder and Aggravated Assault, in violation of Chapter 14, chapter “A” Section 14.1 and 14.20 of the Revised Penal code of the Republic of Liberia, for purposely, knowingly, intentionally, with disregard to the value of human life, taking a cutlass and butchering his wife and chopping his step daughter on the head, while he also wounded his mother-In-law, Musu Cox, on her left toe with a cutlass and escaped.
During investigation conducted, it was revealed that on September 3, defendant Porte, his deceased wife, Sarah Y. Morris, and their children, were home, when a misunderstanding ensued between him and his wife, in which their children placed a call to their grandmother (victim Musu Cox) to quickly come to their house to see what their stepfather was carrying on at their house.
The police further explained that upon victim Cox’s arrival, he was complained on by his wife of damaging all of her market and food stuff.
The police explained that instead of the defendant Porte addressing himself to the issue, he started accusing victim Cox of giving money to victim Morris to pay her grandchildren’s school fees without his knowledge and consent.
The investigation further revealed that there was also a heated argument between the defendant and the deceased Morris over the issue of her wanting to cook cassava leaves, and he threatened that if she cooked cassava leaves, he was going to defecate in the food, since she was aware that he does not eat cassava leaves and yet she was planning to cook same on Sunday September 4.
The police sheet said that defendant Porte went in the kitchen and kicked the meat from the dryer and wasted all the food on the ground.
During the night, the defendant went into the house, wore his clothes, took his cutlass, and informed his mother in-law, that he was going to sleep with his relative and wouldn’t return until the next morning, and he left.
Investigation further revealed that after defendant left the house under the pretense of leaving, he clandestinely remained in the vicinity until it got late, he then came and sat outside, near the door, waiting in ambush for the deceased to fall prey to him, since the rest room was outdoors and he was certain that someone would come out to use the rest room at the back of the house.
“When the deceased and her daughter, Dearest D. Diggs, were in bed in her room at midnight, her daughter wanted to use the rest room. When victim Diggs and her mother were coming out of the house, they saw the defendant lying on the table and they passed by him and went behind the house for the little girl to use the rest room,” the police investigation maintained.
The police charged revealed that while the deceased was waiting for her daughter to get through defecating, the little girl heard her mother crying and calling their grandmother, and the grandmother came outside and saw the defendant standing over the victim with the cutlass in his hand, chopping her.
The police added that the when grandmother noticed the defendant chopping her daughter, she jumped on him to rescue the deceased, but the defendant knocked her down on the ground and sat over her.
Police explained that while the grandmother, Cox, was trying to rescue her daughter from the hands of the defendant, she managed to release herself from under the defendant and went to check for her grandchildren in the house, but did not see them, as they had all fled to their uncle’s house.
“That the cutlass used by defendant was observed with blood stains and retrieved from scene, even though he denied the allegation levied against him, but partially admitted to the crime when he stated in his statement that he was responsible for the death of his wife.