Monrovia – A 12-man jury has handed a unanimous guilty verdict against defendant Morris B. Togbah, 24, in a murder trial at Criminal Court “A”, Temple of Justice.

The 12-man jury in their verdict noted that defendant Togbah committed the crime purposely, willingly, and intentionally, contrary to the form, force, and effect of the Statutory Laws of Liberia, thereby contravening the peace and dignity of the state.

The jury in their verdict on Monday, August 29, noted, “We the trial jurors Unanimously agreed that the defendant is guilty of the crime of murder.”

On October 13, 2020, Defendant Togbah was arrested and charged with the commission of the crime of murder for gruesomely murdering deceased Rebecca Queelay with a green-handled kitchen knife.”

According to his indictment, the defendant on July 1, 2020, at about 1 am directly stabbed the deceased in the Logan Town Community, Bushrod Island in Montserrado County, while the deceased was asleep.

Accordingly, Defendant Togbah, during the same night of the incident, entered the house of the deceased and concealed himself in the bathroom under the cover of darkness with criminal intent to murder Rebecca Queeley.

“That as the deceased went to bed, you defendant Morris B. Togbah to be identified, used the aforesaid green-handled kitchen knife, willfully, purposely, knowingly and intentionally struck deceased on the left side of her chest, under her left Breast, thereby directly causing her fatal death.”

At the same time, the indictment stated that after the commission of the crime of murder, Defendant Togbah, without any sense of remorse for human value, abscond the crime scene and was later arrested on the 13th of October, 2020.

Following his indictment and subsequent proceeding, the 12-man Jurors noted that Defendant Togbah committed the crime of murder, a felony of the first degree.

Meanwhile, Judge Roosevelt Willie, following the juror’s verdict noted, that having listened to the verdict, it is his honor to do communication with the Ministry of Justice, which will do a report on the defendant’s character and that said report will enable the court to make an informed decision on the defendant.

Monrovia – A ‘businesswoman identified as Yassah Mulbah Zumo, commonly called Tokpai, and a resident of the Rock Hill Community on GSA Road in Monrovia was early Saturday morning found lying dead in a ditch at the Todee Junction along the Monrovia-Kakata Highway in Margibi County.

A family member, identified as Isaac Beyan Stevens, who walked into the offices of the FrontPageAfrica late Tuesday evening to report the incident, revealed that the deceased left Monrovia on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 for her hometown Fisubu in Lofa County to purchase palm oil.

Stevens, who claimed that the deceased was his sister, stated that after she had purchased the oil, she sent the first consignment of 17 tins.  After, he said, she decided to look for a commercial car to return to Monrovia.

According to him, while waiting for a vehicle endlessly and couldn’t find one, she was fortunate to have gotten in a vehicle belonging to the Ministry of Health assigned to the Kolahun Hospital in Lofa County.

Stevens disclosed that the driver agreed to take her to Monrovia along with her goods f or the fare of LD$2,400.00

According to Stevens, when she got to Gbarnga, Yassah called her husband who told her that he will give her a call when she gets to Kakata.

“When she got to Kakata around 10-11:00 pm, she gave him another call and told her husband everybody on board the car had disembarked and she was the only lady in the car and didn’t want to travel with only men in the car therefore she was going to her sister’s place opposite the BWI Campus called Germany to sleep”, Stevens narrated.

Unfortunately, Stevens said when she got to her sister’s place in Germany and knocked at the door there was no response, thinking apparently the sister and her husband were not in and the children were afraid to open the door.

He said based on that she decided to call her husband who told her that no one was in the house.

She was going to take the chance to travel with the same vehicle because the driver was quarreling with her because she was wasting his time.

He went on to say that after few hours, her husband called but the phone was switched off, not bothering to call back.

Stevens said Yassah’s husband went to Red Light the next day thinking his wife slept there with her market but could not be found and based on that he alerted him (Stevens) on the happenings.

According to Stevens, they decided to travel along the Monrovia Kakata Town Highway to know what was happening and while en-route; he received a call from an anonymous caller who wanted to know whether he was Isaac.

When he responded in the positive, the fellow told him that there was a woman lying in the ditch at Todee Junction with a phone lying beside her with his name in it and it was why he was calling.

The family member furthered that he asked the fellow to take the woman to the C.H. Rennie Hospital in Kakata or allow him to talk to her but the anonymous caller told him that she was unconscious.

“I drove to the area along with some police officers and saw at the Todee Junction a huge crowd looking down in the ditch when we got there I saw my sister lying down with cut on her legs but no blood anywhere to where she was lying.”

“We also discovered red spot on the vehicle but there was no goods in the vehicle,” said Beyan Stevens.

According to him, the police asked the family to take over the body and is now at the St Moses funeral home on the Somalia Drive and the driver of the Ministry of Health vehicle has been detained as the prime suspect while the Police is conducting an investigation.

“Let me say that what has happened is not a vehicle accident. My sister was gruesomely murdered and dropped in that ditch .The family do demand and autopsy from the police”, Stevens said.

Kennedy L. Yangian kennedylyangian@frontpageafgricaonline