By: Joseph Titus Yekeryan
The Liberia National Police, Bong County’s detachment has arrested and charged a 22-year-old man, James Cole Sumo CKA Kofi, with Murder, Armed Robbery, and Theft of Property.
Defendant Sumo was arrested on Wednesday, August 2, with a stolen black Bajaj motorcycle in Tokpalai Town, Jorquelleh District #2, and forwarded to the Bong County Police headquarters along with the bike for investigation.
According to George Kamara, the father of victim Survivor Faijue Kamara, on Sunday, July 30, 2023, at 12: noon he and others were in Gonovo Town, his son passed with three passengers on his motorbike going toward Negbeai Town direction.
The Police charge’s sheet quotes the victim’s father as saying, “Later on at 1: 00 PM, we saw my son’s motorbike coming back with only Defendant James Cole Sumo alone on the bike without my son”.
“When I went home in the evening, I never saw my son. I inquired from other family members, but they couldn’t give me an account of my son. So, I went to the Defendant’s uncle (Jacob Flomo) who immediately called other family members via cell phone in District #2, and he was arrested and forwarded to the Police for investigation”.
Our Bong County Correspondent says, defendant James Cole admitted to the commission of the crime but refused to locate the scene.
A joint team of Police officers, local authorities, and some citizens of the area were dispatched to search alongside the road and creek between Negbelai and Gonovulo Towns.
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Our Correspondent says while carrying on the search, the cutlass used by the defendant was in the grass right near the creek where victim Survivor Faijue Kamara’s lifeless body was seen under the log in the creek with a deep cutlass wound at the back of his neck.
The fifteen members’ coroner jury was constituted to physically examine the body and pronounced him dead as a result of a major foul play.
Explaining his ordeal, defendant Sumo said he hired the victim to take him to another town in the area and they both agreed that he paid $900 Liberia Dollars.
He said while on their way right at the creek, he started fighting the victim to take the motorbike from him but the victim strongly resisted.
“When he was giving me a hard time to take his bike, I took my cutlass and chopped him at the back of his neck and carried his body under the log in the creek. I quickly took away the motorbike and forgot about the cutlass on the scene” he concluded.
He has been forwarded to the Gbarnga central prison, awaiting court trial. His charges are in accordance with sections 14.1, 15.32, and 15.51 of the new penal code of the Republic of Liberia.
