Monrovia – The Liberia National Police has denied arresting Jestina Taylor Ghartey, the lady who alleged that she was abducted, drugged, raped and dumped on the Robertsfield Highway by unknown men.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Jestina alleged that on Wednesday she was attending a scheduled interview at the United States Embassy in Monrovia but could not attend because police officers reportedly barricaded the catholic hospital where she seeks medical treatment.
Jestina previously claimed the abduction was reportedly done on the same day she appeared in a video making a wide range of allegations against stalwarts of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) that went viral on Facebook.
In the video, she accused Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee of murder and knowledge of the whereabouts of a stash of weapons and ammunition
In a video recording at the NEC headquarters, Jestina is heard accusing Mayor Koijee, Thomas Fallah and Saah Joseph of sending a man named ‘Mulbah Kesselly’ to kill her. “The opposition has your clip; everywhere you have your weapons we know it already, but because we don’t want the Liberian people to rise against you, this is why we do not want to expose you.”
She claimed in the recording that Mayor Koijee was being a part of the Liberian civil war assigned with Chuckie Taylor (also known as Charles McArthur Emmanuel), the convicted and incarcerated son of ex-President of Liberia, Charles Ghankay Taylor. She alleged that Koijee was responsible for the killing of a handicapped child born by a Mulatto woman for Chuckie Taylor.
— Jestina Taylor Ghartey
“There was a huge deployment of the police so I had no choice but to remain in the hospital, and I do not know when they will leave.”
In the video, she advised Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue to be careful because he is sitting on a “time bomb” and that he could be assassinated at any time. She also confessed knowing more about the history of the war and that she would feel comfortable testifying before an established United Nations-backed tribunal for Liberia.
Jestina’s allegations were followed by a press conference by Jefferson Koijee, during which he distanced himself from the allegation.
On Wednesday, Jestina told FPA that her visit to the US Embassy was to enable her to seek medical treatment abroad. “My sister and others have helped in securing a date for an interview with the American Embassy so that I can go abroad for medical treatment but when I got ready, we noticed that the entire front gate was full with police officers, I got afraid and could not come down to meet my schedule.”
Jestina said an inquiry was done on the officers’ presence but was told that they had gone to ‘arrest’ her.
“There was a huge deployment of the police so I had no choice but to remain in the hospital, and I do not know when they will leave,” Jestina said.
A FrontPageAfrica reporter who visited the hospital Wednesday, noticed uniformed and plain clothes police and NSA officers guarding the hospital premises.
Adama Dempster, Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform said he could not give an official statement on the situation until after a further investigation.
Anthony Nyanlue, Deputy Police Spokesperson says it was a surprise that Jestina will claim that officers went to arrest her.
“She was not arrested and we had no plan of arresting her, it is unfortunate that she will claim that we went to arrest her.”
A senior Police officer who asked for anonymity told FPA that their presence at the hospital was to invite Jestina at the Police headquarters to extract a statement from her on the abduction claim.
“We only had plans of inviting her to lead us to where the incident occurred and if she has knowledge of the whereabouts of the suspect,” the officer said.
No investigation has established from either of the security institutions.
