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Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Elusive Justice: Liberia Fails to Find Killers of Two Teenage Girls In 17 Years

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By Festus Poquie

The murder of two promising young girls in Liberia, 17 years apart, remains a shocking mystery, as law enforcement and prosecutors have proved helpless in bringing the killers to justice. The cases cast a dark shadow over the country’s criminal justice system.

On November 30, 2007, 13-year-old Meideh Angel Togbah was found hanging by a rope in the bathroom of her foster parents’ home in Sinkor, Monrovia.

She was rushed to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. A medical report noted bruises on her neck and evidence of past sexual intercourse, but failed to determine the cause of death.

The foster parents, Hans Capehart Williams and Mardia P. Williams, were arrested and charged with Meideh’s murder. However, the Supreme Court later overturned their conviction, ruling that the prosecutors failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The second case involves the gruesome murder of 17-year-old Charloe Musu, the daughter of Liberia’s former Chief Justice, Gloria Musu Scott.

On February 22, 2023, Charloe was reportedly killed in an armed attack on her mother’s home in Brewerville, outside Monrovia. Several others were also injured in the incident, according to initial account..

Prosecutors with the aid of police investigation, accused the former Chief Justice and three of her family members of colluding and conspiring to stab Charloe multiple times, leading to her death.

They were charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, and false reports to law enforcement. In a surprising twist, the Supreme Court on August 28, overturned the life sentence imposed on the defendants, citing a lack of evidence to link them to the crime.

“The state did not meet the burden of proof to warrant the conviction of the defendants. Therefore, the defendants are hereby acquitted of the crimes of murder, criminal conspiracy et al. as charged in the indictment,” Chief Justice Justice Sie-A-Nyene  Youh ruled.

The failure to find the killers in both cases has left the victims’ families and the public in a state of shock and despair. The cases have also raised serious questions about the effectiveness and impartiality of Liberia’s criminal justice system.

The unsolved murders have become a painful reminder of the challenges facing Liberia’s efforts to build a fair and accountable justice system.

Charloe Musu’s Murder Timeline

On February 22, 2023, at about 11:00 P.M it was reported that armed attacked on the home of Liberia’s former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott led to the gruesome murder of Charloe Musu with several others sustaining injuries.

March: Provisional autopsy report shows injuries on the deceased left side cut a blood vessel under her rib.

The deceased bled profusely outside and inside and the bleeding inside filled her left side chest and damaged the left lung. Pathologist Benedict Kolee said.

March 20: Police in Monrovia have concluded the probed and set to release results of its investigation. But this did not happen. The office of the Attorney General cutoff the press conference   and show no new date for release of the report.

April 6:  Victim’s family asked the Liberian government to surrender the remains of their relatives into their custody for burial.

“The object of the request is to bury Charloe so that her body and remains will be finally laid to rest with the decency, dignity, honor, and respect she deserves in keeping with our tradition and custom,” they said in a letter to the Minister of Justice Musa Dean.

June 20: Police arrest Gloria Scott and three family members arrested and detained

June:21 They are released into the custody of their lawyers

June 22: Rearrested and charged with multiple criminal offenses

Dec. 21: Jurors delivered unanimous guilty verdict

Aug 28, 2024: Supreme Court overturned lower court life sentence, acquitting the accused persons.

Williams v. Republic of Liberia

Hans Capehart Williams and Mardia P. Williams, (the “Appellants”), appealed from a judgment entered by a judge who also sat as jury. They claimed that the evidence adduced at their trial was insufficient to support their convictions for murder.

The case raises a question which goes to the fundamental principles of our criminal jurisprudence: the presumption of innocence, the burden of proof, and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Here, we are called upon to address the question what quantum of evidence is necessary or required to convict persons who are charged with the heinous crime of murder and whether or not the Prosecution in this case discharged its duty regarding the burden of proof in a criminal case such as this case, and was therefore entitled to a conviction against the Appellants. Here are the facts:

At approximately 7:00 P.M. on November 30, 2007, thirteen-year-old Meideh Angel Togbah was found hanging by rope in the bathroom of the Old Road, Sinkor residence of the Appellants. The Appellants subsequently rushed her to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital (“JFK Hospital), where she was pronounced dead upon arrival.

A medical report issued by Dr. Williamina Jallah OB/GYN of the JFK Hospital on November 30, 2007 states, among other things, that Meideh Angel Togbah’s hymen was not intact; that bruises were seen on the left and right side of the neck and under the chin; that there was slight bruise around the rectal area and that there was evidence of past sexual intercourse or trauma to the vagina and neck.

The medical report, however, failed to state how these conditions occurred or by whom.

On February 12, 2008 the Appellants were arrested and charged with the crime of murder for the death of Meideh Angel Togbah. The writ of arrest was issued out of the Monrovia City Court.

The appellants were charged with the murder of a 13-year-old girl. The Supreme Court was asked to consider whether the prosecutor proved the case beyond reasonable doubt. The victim was found hanging by rope in the appellants’ bathroom and died the same day in the hospital.

The appellants brought the victim to the hospital prior to her death. Evidence showed that she had bruises on the left and right side of her neck, and she had sexual intercourse prior to her death.

The grand jury indicted the appellants in the circuit Court. The Judge granted the appellants’ motion for bail. In the trial, the appellants produced multiple witnesses to testify that they were in the same house when the incident occurred.

The prosecutors had two autopsy reports proving that the victim’s death was caused by sexual abuse or homicide. The Circuit Judge convicted the appellants for murder and sentenced them to death by hanging. The appellants filed a petition for the writ of certiorari for a crime not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The Supreme Court held that in the case of murder, the prosecutors are required to overcome the presumption of innocence.

Here, the government failed to establish each element of the crime of murder, specifically, the government failed to prove that each of the appellants choked the victim to death, failed to prove that each of the appellants hanged her body in the bathroom in their house, and failed to prove the missing belt, which was used to tie the victim belonged to the appellants.

The Supreme Court also explained that the government failed to produce the DNA specimens from the victim to test after taking the appellants’ DNA for testing, and could not produce any evidence that linked the hanging to the appellants. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment for the lower court to reconsider.

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