Monrovia – A motion to dismiss the charge Aggravated Assault and Criminal Facilitation on former EPS Deputy Director for Operation, Darlington George, filed by his legal counsel is currently on hold as the state has prayed the court for more time.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo/ [email protected]
The request of George’s counsel came after they revealed that the resistance by prosecution to the motion was filed minutes before the case could begin.
In a 12 counts resistance, the state said George was indicted during the August term of court in 2015. “From the date the defendants were indicted, the court before which this matter lies has tried only capital offense cases such as Murder.”
In count 3 of the prosecution’s resistance, they said that indeed there are countless good causes that are existing and reasonable to have caused the delay in proceeding with the matter on its merits.
The state furthered that at no time had the defendants through their counsel prayed for assignment and the state failed to proceed. “There have been strong and vibrant good causes for this case not to have been proceeded within keeping with terms as alleged in movants motion to dismiss.”
On September 15, 2015, the former EPS Deputy Director was relieved of his post by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on grounds that he assaulted Ms. Varnester Maday Kiatamba.
The Executive Mansion said it “will not condone such an act of sheer indiscipline and total lack of morals on the part of any member of State security institutions especially the EPS, which has been subject to thorough psychological reform in order to give a human face to the public service they are entrusted to perform.”
Ms. Kiatamba explained that she was trying to settle a dispute between her friends who were fussing when Darlington George came very close to them with his vehicle, nearly hitting them. When she went to confront him about his offensive behavior, she said George began to use profane expressions at her and her friends, calling them “prostitutes”, sources say.
Eyewitnesses narrated that Kiatamba returned a similar expletive concerning his mother, which infuriated the EPS Deputy who started “punching and kicking her… and ordered his bodyguard to hit her with a bottle in his hand.”
She explained that Darlington George boasted that he is Ellen’s son and “nothing can be done” to him for assaulting her. Just as he had ordered, the bodyguard immediately threw the bottle at her which wounded her face and she fell to the ground and fainted.