Monrovia – A mother who allegedly gave her son a knife, ordering him to stab an older man in Lakpazee, will have their fate decided June 30 when Judge Roosevelt Willie decides their fate with a verdict June 30.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson Mbayo, [email protected]
Korpo Tarnue is charged with Criminal Facilitation while her son Nelson Troy is charged with murder for stabbing Emmanuel Oldman Garbon, an ex military personnel of the Armed Forces of Liberia.
“Defendant Troy purposely, intentionally and criminally stabbed the deceased in the neck with a black handled kitchen knife on October 30, 2016,” stated the charge sheet from the Liberia National Police.
According to the police report, the deceased and the defendant were involved in an argument on October 30, 2016 in the morning hours and it further degenerated into the use of expletives.
“While the victim and mother were arguing, the suspect, Troy, came in defense of his mother and started to argue with the victim.”
“As a result Garbo hit Troy and he fell to the ground.
Troy then ran to his house and his mother handed him a knife which he returned and used to stab Garbo after which he fled the scene.
The victim was taken to John F. Kennedy Hospital seeking treatment but later died from his injury.
During the final argument, Cllr. Matthias Omeija said the death of Garbo was a result of poor care at the hospital.
“He wasn’t killed because my client stabbed him.”
“What happened shouldn’t have happened, it’s because of inappropriate medical treatment at the hospital, so the hospital was careless in the death of the Garbo.”
He pleaded for leniency in the charge of his client.
“We are pleading for manslaughter and not murder because the act by my client is not murder but rather manslaughter.”
He said Troy’s act was one of self defense.
State lawyer, Cllr. Sunifu Sheriff said the act occurred as a result of the love the defendant has for his mother.
“The knife is an exhibition of gruesomeness. The man was a trained military man but he abused and gruesomely killed the man.”
“What is the proof that he killed in self-defense, a mother and child connived to hurt the family of the deceased.”
At least 7 witnesses appeared for the state upon which their testimonies were corroborated.
“The man was at the point of death when he struggled to tell his family what happened to him and that was his last statement.”
He added that the deceased last statement was his “dying declaration.”
Sunifu rebutted the plea made by defense lawyer Omeija on grounds that the both (Mother and son) collaborated to kill the deceased.
“Leaving the lady and incarcerating the boy will be questionable to the justice system.”
“The doctor testified and the defense didn’t react. He was an aggressor of the rock and the knife.”