Monrovia – The Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice has finally received six out of the seven vehicles allegedly stolen from the United States and brought to Liberia.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian [email protected]
The Liberia Revenue Authority agents from the Anti-Smuggling and Intelligence Section (ASIS) working in collaboration with the Liberia National Police (LNP) seized the vehicles at the Freeport on October 13, 2016, while being offloaded.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department, investigations report the vehicles were allegedly taken from the owners at gunpoint while in the United States.
However, the whereabouts of the seven vehicles have been unknown since they were seized in October by the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) with fingers being pointing at the United States Embassy of being in possession of the stolen vehicles due to lack of trust in the country’s security system.
The six vehicles have been presented and parked at the LNP Headquarter after the court prevailed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have the United States Embassy hand over the vehicles.
The court’s order has come about amid a submission by the defense counsel Cllr Johnny Momoh to have the vehicles entrusted to the court to establish the prosecution claim.
Cllr. Joseph Momoh is serving the legal interest of the only two Liberians accused of their alleged involvement in the stolen cars, Armstrong Campbell and Kandakai Sherman while two other defendants linked to the stolen vehicles Sheak Brown and Sheriff Lasuado are reported to be at large.
Montserrado County Attorney Cllr. Daku Mulbah confirmed the presence of the six vehicles at the ongoing trial of the two Liberians Tuesday.
“Your honor I want to say that six of the seven vehicles are currently present around the perimeter of the court,” said Cllr. Daku Mulbah who stated that one of the vehicles is without tires, this being why it was not brought to court.
It was not clear whether it was the U.S. Embassy that handed over the cars, though County Attorney Mulbah was tip-lipped on the whereabout of the vehicles.
A source close to the court told FrontpageAfrica on the basis of anonymity that the cars were in the possession of the Liberia National Police (LNP) but the Police could neither deny nor confirm the report when contacted.
Cllr, Daku’s statement prompted the presiding Judge Yussif Kaba to instruct the trial jurors to proceed to the Police headquarter where the vehicles were parked for inspection.
“Jurors you are hereby ordered to proceed to the LNP Headquarters to inspect the vehicles in question but don’t talk to anyone” instructed Judge Kaba.
At the end of the jurors’ inspection, the case resumed where the prosecution lawyer Cllr. Jerry Garlawolo announced to the court to mark and admit documents in its possession into evidence.
Cllr. Garlowolo submission was resisted by the defense lawyer Cllr. Arthur Johnson who requested the court not to admit the Police investigation report from the U.S. as it violates the country’s law to not admit foreign documents into evidence without the legal requirements met.
Cllr. Johnson resistance was overruled by the judge, who pointed out that the case is being heard by jurors who are judges of facts and will determine the weight of evidence and bring down a verdict.