Murder convict gets 25yrs sentence

Murder convict Sylvester Tarpeh Davies has been sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment by the Criminal Court “A”, Temple of Justice, as the judge confirmed a guilty jury verdict against the defendant for brutally killing his girlfriend Sonnie Tipayson and stocking her body in a barrel last November.

Defendant Davies was indicted and prosecuted for killing victim Sonnie Tipayson, who was carrying a four months pregnancy, and by whom he had a kid in her parents’ house in Paity Town, Bushrod Island, a suburb of Monrovia.  

Defendant Davies pleaded guilty to the indictment in open court, and additionally waived testimony after prosecutors produced three witnesses, including the deceased’s father Mr. Eric Tipayson, and two senior police officers, all of whom pointed to the convict as the murderer.

But both prosecutors and defense counsels separately took exceptions to Judge Roosevelt Willie’s judgment on different grounds yesterday, as state lawyers particularly excepted to the judge’s 25 years imprisonment sentence of the defendant.

As for defendant Davies’ counsels, they said they will take advantage of the laws controlling and will take an appeal to the Supreme Court of Liberia. Citing constitutional provisions during the reading of the court’s judgment, the judge acknowledged that the penalty for murder was death or life time imprisonment.

But he sentenced the convict to 25 years imprisonment with immediate effect, ordering the clerk to communicate the judgment to the Prison Superintendent to effect the order.

The judge had ruled that defendant Davies premeditated the crime murder, as he cited the time it took the defendant to plan and go to victim Sonnie’s house, gave money to the kids to go and buy rice cala on the road before attacking her and stocking her in the drum.

Following the guilty jury verdict against defendant Davies, his mother-in-law, Madam Oretha Tipayson, advanced calls for re-visitation of laws crafted against murder to “re-instate killing of those that murder others” to serve as deterrence against such  crime.

By Winston W. Parley