Monrovia – Criminal Court ‘A’ Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie has sentenced a 21-year-old man, Saah Joseph, to 30 years in prison for the murder of a 15-year-old girl.
Saah Joseph was incarcerated at the Monrovia Central Prison to serve his sentence on Friday, June 28.
“In view of the foregoing circumstances in part, and the law cited and predicted upon the plea of guilty of the defendant couple with his plea of mercy, this court will not sentence him to life imprisonment or death by hanging.”
Judge Willie’s ruling adds: “The court, however, sentences defendant Saah Joseph for 30 years imprisonment with eligibility for parole based on the attitude and report from the correction office after a period of 25 years. The Clerk of this court is hereby ordered to communicate this mandate or ordered to the Monrovia Central Prison to effect this sentence and is hereby so ordered.”
According to the ruling, Saah Joseph was indicted by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County on January 22, 2019 for murdering the 15-year-old minor, Vivian Wright, in New Georgia.
He was arrested on December 21, 2018 and then forwarded to court to face prosecution for the commission of the crime of murder.
The ruling added that convict Joseph, a steel bender, working in the compound of Mr. Alfred Tanapolie, left the premises and went to a local bar (Club 88 in New Georgia) where he met the deceased and contacted her to sleep with him for US$20.
Thereafter, Joseph and the deceased (Vivian Wright) got on a motorbike from the local bar to the compound (Mr. Alfred Tanapolie Compound where he was hired to work) where he begun to have sexual intercourse with the deceased.
In the process of having sex, confusion ensued between he and the deceased and he (Saah Joseph) begun to strangle the deceased until she began unconscious while he continued to forcibly have sex with her in her vagina and anus.
When he realized that the deceased was motionless or lifeless, he took her lifeless body out of the compound on his shoulder, climbed on a plank and threw her lifeless body out of the compound along with her clothes.
The ruling further states that upon the commission of the crime of murder, without sense of remorse absconded to Dolo Town, Margibi County, where he was arrested by state security.
When arraigned before the Criminal Court ‘A’, he pleaded guilty to the commission of the crime of murder and pleaded with the court and members of the deceased to exercise mercy with justice.
“In view of the fact that the crime is a 1st degree felony and being a capital offense, the plea of guilty was set aside and the prosecution was mandated to proof its case beyond all reasonable doubt that Saah Joseph committed the crime of murder”
Judge Willie continued: “The defense counsel informed the court that in view of the plea of guilty as made by the then defendant, the defendant waived jury trials as well as the production of evidence and continued to plea with the court for mercy.”