Gbarnga, Bong County – The man who shot and killed his girlfriend in Weyemu town, Bong County, has been sentenced to 40 years in jail.
Naomi Babygirl Cooper, 39, died in a rubber bush near Weyemu after Samuel K. Dolo shot her on April 9, 2019. Dolo, 45, was found guilty of murder and possessing dangerous weapon on Wednesday, August 28, at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court.
Dolo, a classroom teacher, pleaded guilty to the crime charged in the indictment. Consistent with Section 16.4 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court inquired from the defendant as to whether his plea was voluntary and whether he fully understood the nature of the crime charged in the indictment. Dolo answered in the affirmative and told the court he killed the deceased out of emotion.
On the day of the murder, Dolo had decided to drop his girlfriend off to the market when she received a telephone call, which Dolo suspected was a boyfriend on the line.
After shooting her, he put her lifeless body in a rice bag and took it to a nearby rubber farm. The Defendant’s sole intent, according to the ruling, was to conceal the crime and escape the crime scene.
The court was told that Dolo killed his Ms. Cooper “to punish her” for having different relationship.
Sentencing him, Judge Scheaplor Dunbar, assigned judge at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, said: “In the mind of the court, the killing of the deceased was willful and premeditated. No amount of jealousy warrants the killing of a person the Defendant claimed to have loved. His attempt to conceal the crime by putting the body in a bag and carried it in a nearby rubber bush is a crime. In killing the deceased, the Defendant has inflicted heavy pain on the family and children of the deceased. This court will not impose the maximum penalty as requested by the prosecution. However, this court will impose a sentence that will ensure that the defendant will not have the opportunity to inflict pain on any other family again.”
Continuing, Judge Dunbar added: “Wherefore, and in view of the foregoing, Defendant Samuel K. Dolo is adjudged guilty of the commission of the crime of murder and hereby sentenced to jail for a period of 40 calendar years. The Clerk of this Court is ordered to inform the Superintendent of the Gbarnga Central Prison about the sentencing of the defendant. And it is hereby so ordered.”
Following the sentence, Babygirl’s family described her as “a beautiful, intelligent, happy, caring woman who was loved by so many people, both in Liberia and abroad.” “The impact that Babygirl’s death has left on her children is almost impossible to put into words. No sentence will ever replace or bring back our beautiful mom,” said Emmanuel Ballah, son of Babygirl.