Another death in police cell

A 21-year-old inmate has reportedly committed suicide while in detention at the Gbarnga Police Station. The late George Kollie, a notorious criminal, who was arrested by police for allegedly murdering his friend, used his shirt to hang himself on the door of his cell.

According to police in Gbarnga, the deceased and his friends, who are on the run, flogged Joseph Kollie, another notorious criminal to death for not giving them their share of US$1,200 proceeds they got from the sale of two stolen motorbikes.

The late George Kollie and his three accomplices reportedly stole two motorcycles in Gbarnga and placed them in the care of two of their accomplices to bring to Monrovia for sale. But Joseph Kollie,one of the two who came to Monrovia for the sale, refused to give his friends their share of US$600 from the proceeds, telling them he used the amount, which prompted them to allegedly beat him to death.

After several investigations by the police, they arrested and incarcerated George Kollie, who subsequently committed suicide in detention. But prior to allegedly taking his own life in prison, the deceased had admitted they beat Joseph Kollie to death for refusing to give their share of US$600 from the US$1,200 accrued from the sale of the two motorbikes in Monrovia.

Police are still in search of theother two accomplices in the alleged murder of Joseph Kollie, who are on the run. As this paper went to press Tuesday, March 1, 2016, the body of the late Joseph was still laying in the street of Gbarnga near the old Ganta Parking with some residents calling on the Gbarnga City Corporation to remove the corpse.

The Commander of the Police Crime Services Division in Gbarnga, Kellenzo Flomo, told our Bong County correspondent that inmate committing suicide in detention had never occurred at the Bong County Police Headquarters.

The incident brings to two alleged suicides in police cell in five months.  A female inmate, 21-year-old Bendu Saysay, reportedly took her own life in a police station along the Banjor road in Virginia, outside Monrovia.

According to the Liberia National Police, the late Bendu hang herself in the cell and while being rushed to the Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town, she died. Police spokesman Sam Collins, said the late Bendu Saysay was found helpless in the cell on Wednesday, October 21, where she was detained for alleged criminal mischief.

According to Collins, the late Bendu used her lapper and hang herself on the gate of the cell before officers noticed and went to her rescue, but she was already helpless, adding that the police decided to rush her to the Redemption Hospital, unfortunately she died enroute to the hospital.

An autopsy report released by the Ministry of Justice following pressure from family of the late Bendu Saysay, failed to establish the cause of death.

-Edited by Jonathan Browne