KAKATA, Margibi — The three men convicted of murdering a German national in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County were sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison each, with the judge stating that prosecutors proved their case beyond reasonable doubt by providing all necessary evidence that led to their conviction.
Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay said two of the defendants James Tokpa Kollie alias “Depree” and Emmanuel Kollie also known as “Porleh” have had prior criminal records, while Joseph Cole, another defendant, had no prior criminal record.
But the defense lawyer, Morris Y. Massaquoi, however, took an appeal to the Supreme Court sitting in its March A.D. 2022 term of court, threatening to file a motion to correct the judge judgment.
Convicts ‘not deterred’
Kollie, however, told reporters he was not deterred by his lengthy sentencing, claiming he had sufficient evidence to prove his case after the lower court’s ruling.
He added that during his arrest, he was not given much chance to gather his evidence, claiming his passport that should have vindicated him during the trail was taken away by a Liberian National Police officer during his arrest.
For his part, Cole wondered why he’s being found guilty of murder when the report from the probation officer at the Ministry of Justice reportedly showed he was innocent of all allegations against him.
It can be recalled, On January 22, 2020, the German national Schedema was shot during an armed robbery incident at the International Consultant Capital Logging Company compound in Big Joe Town near the port city of Buchanan.
They were unanimously found guilty on December 30, 2021 by trial jurors at the 13th Judicial Circuit Court in Kakata, Margibi County.
But lawyers representing the accused took exception to jurors’ unanimous guilty verdict and promised to take advantage of the statute controlling.