Kakata – The Liberian Government quest for a speedy trial in the German national murder case at the 13th Judicial Circuit Court in Margibi County has been dealt a blow due to the court deferment of the trial for the next Term of Court.
Report by Yawah Y. Jaivey, Contributor
The suspension of the trial on Thursday, June 4, was as the result of the presiding Judge Mardea Tarr-Chenoweth granting the defense lawyer motion for the case to be removed from bench to jury trial.
Before granting the defense lawyer’s motion, Judge Tarr-Chenoweth acknowledged that during the opening of the last term, courts in Liberia were informed and advised by the Chief Justice of Liberia that cases should be handled with care through bench trial due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
She revealed that the Supreme Court had advised Judges that if any party requests for a jury trial during this period of COVID-19, that matter should be deferred to the next Term of Court.
“Section 20.10 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia which says right to trial by jury, a defendant should be accorded the right to jury trial except for petty offence, but this is a murder trial. The court do here grant the defense lawyer motion for jury trial and the case differed to the next Term of Court and hereby so order,” Judge Tarr-Chenoweth ruled.
Government lawyers headed by Cllr. Wesseh A. Wesseh, Assistant Justice Minister for Litigation, took no objection to the defense’s motion for jury trial.
Judge Tarr-Chenoweth earlier on denied a motion for the suppression of evidence filed before the court by attorney Alfred B. Holmes, the lawyer representing the legal interest of murder suspects – Emmanuel Kollie and Joseph Cole.
Attorney Holmes had requested the court to ignore the statements attracted from his clients and allow the prosecutors to prove their case because those statements attracted from the defendants were allegedly done under duress and torture, and his clients were never accorded the right to lawyer during the police’s preliminary stage of the investigation.
“During the trial the defendants will have the chance to be examined and cross-examined; so, the court hereby deny the defense request to have the court suppress the evidence obtained by the state,” Judge Tarr-Chenoweth ruled.
The Judge, at the same time, granted the defense lawyer motion praying the court to separately trial the two men from the others who are still at large.
Murder suspect Emmanuel Kollie, 38, was arrested in the LPMC Road Community in Gbarnga, Bong County while one of his alleged accomplices, Joseph Cole, was apprehended by the Liberia National Police in the Cotton Tree Community in Margibi County.
The German national, Juergen Schedema, who was the Log Yard Manager of the International Consultant Company (ICC), was discovered dead early Wednesday morning, January 22, 2020 at the back of the log yard, which is located in Big Joe Town, more than a mile away from the port city of Buchanan.
This discovery was made after unknown gunmen had struck the premises of the ICC the night before.
The Grand Jury of Grand Bassa County indicted defendants Emmanuel Kollie, Joseph Cole and others at large, including James Kollie, Shatta Bondo, Emmanuel alias ‘Sundayboy’, Francis Willie and others with the crimes of murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy.
The two men on Tuesday, June 2, entered a not guilty plea at the onset of their trial at the 13th Judicial Circuit Court in Kakata, Margibi County.