Liberia: Man Mobbed to Death after He Chopped Fiancée and Sister-in-Law with Cutlass and Attempted Setting Them Ablaze

MONROVIA – A man believed to be in his late 30s has been mobbed to death by unknown persons in the Wilson Corner Community in Brewerville, outside Monrovia, after he reportedly chopped his fiancée and sister-in-law, who is eight-month-old pregnant, multiple times with a cutlass.

The deceased, identified as Charles Jerbo, reportedly inflicted wounds on his girlfriend Louis Jerbo, 33, after she decided to quit a long-standing relationship with him due to his alleged arrogant and unruly behavior.

He also chopped his sister-in-law Oretha Reeves, 41, who ran to rescue her sister in the room while screaming for help.

The incident occurred during the late-night hours of Friday, April 22.

Charles was pronounced dead early Saturday morning at the John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital in Sinkor, while Louis and Oretha remain in critical condition.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with FrontPageAfrica following the incident, the Commander of Zone 6 police station, Tarnue Kerkula disclosed that Louis vehemently rejected a plea from Jerbo to reconsider the decision taken to end up the relationship.

“We received a call from one of the community members that there was domestic violence that was going on in the Wilson Corner Community, VOA road. He reported that Charles Jerbo went to his girlfriend’s place trying to reconcile their relationship and she refused on grounds that the man was a violent person and so, she doesn’t want the relationship again”.

Following the rejection, Kerkula disclosed that Jerbo left the residence of his girlfriend and returned the same night with a “cutlass and gas”.

“He entered on the lady in the house with the children and he started to slaughter and butcher his girlfriend in the room. While she was yelling, her bigger sister Oretha Reeves came in to rescue her but Jerbo chopped her head, thigh, and other parts of her body.”

He disclosed that Jerbo also set ablaze the house while the two women were lying in cold blood.

“When Jerbo chopped his girlfriend, he felt that she was dead and he put the house on fire and the woman sustained burns also”.

Commissioner Kerkula stated that the police later rushed on the scene, quashed the fire and rescued the women.

“Jerbo later climbed into the ceiling with the cutlass when the house was surrounded with angry crowd. We tried to control the crowd when Jerbo was attempting to escape the house the people have already burst opened”.

Stoning the police

He pointed out that aggrieved unknown persons engaged into stone throwing at the police to get hold of Jerbo who attempted escaping from the scene.

He admitted that though several rounds of “smoke gas” were released to disperse the crowd, the aggrieved residents managed to throw objects at Jerbo.

“The angry crowd decided to stone us alone with the suspect. Jerbo sustained wounds in his legs and got hit on the head. But we were able to rescue him. We managed to open corridor and we put him in the police vehicle that came and took him to John F. Kennedy hospital for treatment”.

Commissioner Kerkula pointed out that hospital authorities confirmed the death of Jerbo to severe bleeding following the lacerations he sustained from stones and other deadly weapons that were used by the aggrieved residents to mob him.

“The two women are undergoing treatment but they are under a very, very critical condition presently” Commissioner Kerkula emphasized.

Eyewitness account

Little Louis Joe,8, is the biological daughter of Jerbo’s girlfriend.

She partially witnessed the heartless incident which led to the hospitalization of her mother and aunt.

“My ma (mother), aunty, grandma and I were in the room witnessing show when current went and my grandma came outside. So, Charles entered inside when my aunty and my ma were sleeping. I wanted to run and he said when I run, he will kill me”.

Little Louis continued: “I woke up my ma and he started chopping my ma with the cutlass. I took my little sister and tied her mouth. He started looking for us in the house after he chopped my ma and aunty. I got in the water barrel. He hit it with the cutlass; I jumped outside and went under the bed”.

Little Louis recalled that her stepdad swinged the cutlass under the bed multiple times, after he couldn’t get hold of her directly.

“He started swearing that if he does not kill us the woman who born him did not born him good. The people came and started to burst the door but he was still chopping my ma and aunty. When the people opened the door for us, he ran in the ceiling”.

An arrogant stepdad

“When my ma cooked in the house, Charles can say his food small and our food plenty-why my ma should give us plenty food? He can lock the door and start beating us and sometimes pick up knife and say he wants to kill us. Most of the time, he can beat my ma”.

Residents of the community trooped in during the late night and morning hours of the next day when news of the incident broke out.

Our Reporter who went on the scene observed that the windows, walls and other areas of the house were broken to rescue the victims and apprehend Jerbo.

Relatives of the victims were also seen in tears, expressing regret over the long standing relationship between Louis and Jerbo.

“You can’t continue to say for the sake of love, I will bear it in a relationship. If your life is being threatened in a relationship, it is good that you walk away and report the matter to the police for your own safety”, a neighbor who only identified herself as Marie stated.