Monrovia – Two out of three persons linked to the trafficking of a two-year-old girl to the United States in 2006 have been ordered arrested and forwarded to court for prosecution.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian, [email protected]
The Monrovia City Court at the Temple of Justice issued the Writ of Arrest Wednesday, October 3, to have Ernest Urey and Maria Morgan arrested and forwarded to the court for their alleged role in the trafficking of the toddler, Quette Johnson.
The order from Stipendiary Magistrate Kennedy Peabody comes following the arrest and detention of one of the three persons, Edwin Walker, who is currently detained at the Monrovia Central Prison pending prosecution by the court for allegedly trafficking in person after his arrest, investigation and charge by officers of the Liberia National LNP.
“You are hereby commanded to arrest the living body of Edwin Walker, Maria Morgan and Ernest Urey to be identified, the herein defendants forthwith bring him before the Monrovia City Court, Temple of Justice Building to answer to the charge of Trafficking In- Person, based upon the oath and complaint of the Republic of Liberia by &thru Marthaline Johnson plaintiff,” the writ of arrest from the Monrovia City Court stated.
The court record in the possession of FrontPageAfrica quoting complainant Marthaline Johnson stated that between the period of 2006 in the Paynesville City, Montserrado County co-defendant Edwin Walker allegedly induced and influenced Marthaline Johnson, who is the biological mother of Quette Johnson by using deception to take the child away.
The court record further that Walker took the minor from her mother (Johnson) as a father under the pretense that he was turning the child over to co-defendants Maria Morgan and Ernest Urey to be taken to the United States of America.
According to the complaint, she is yet to see her daughter since she was turned over to Morgan and Urey in 2006.
She claims that every time she asked Walker, who she had previous relationship with, he always insults her – an action that prompted her to take the matter with the police and subsequently to the court.
“The alleged act of the defendants, Edwin Walker, Ernest Walker and Maria Morgan was wicked, illegal and intentional and in violation of Section 14.55 of the Trafficking law of the Republic of Liberia,” the court record further stated.
Under the country’s laws and practices the act of trafficking in person is a violation of Section 14.55 of the trafficking law of the Republic of Liberia.
Court sources have told this paper that defendant Maria Morgan currently lives in the United States while Ernest Urey resides in Liberia but since the arrest of principal defendant Edwin Walker and incarceration at the Monrovia Central Prison, the whereabouts of co-defendant Urey remains unknown.