No path for justice, Princess Cooper’s family claims, demands her remains

By Lincoln G. Peters 

The family members of the late Princess Cooper are demanding the government to release to them the corpse of the deceased for a befitting burial, lamenting that they see a fruitless journey and no path for justice for the deceased.

The bereaved family said at a press conference Wednesday, 25 May 2022 that they have realized that there are difficulties, constraints and unfairness in threading the path to justice in Liberia.

“We can say that there is no path for justice in Liberia. With what we have gone through, we can now confirm this road to obtaining justice [will] be a rocky path. Therefore, we the family have seen this as a fruitless journey, “family spokesperson Dr. Abel Momo said in tears in Logan Town Wednesday.

The late Princess Cooper was found dead in February this year in the FAWAZ Building Material Store around the ELWA Junction in Paynesville.

The government pathologists reported that there was no foul play, claiming that the woman died of TB.

The bereaved family, like some members of the public, rejected the government report, and the family suddenly announced that it was opting to have its own pathologists conduct an independent autopsy of the remains.

Dr. Momo pointed out that the family successfully contacted pathologists out of the country whom they considered to be independent.

However, he said a total of five forensic pathologists resisted without purpose for three weeks, all of whom cited insecurity and then declined the process.

“With that, we have come to the realization that indeed there are difficulties, constraints, unfairness in threading the path to justice within our nation,” said Dr. Momo.

He told journalists that in an effort of bringing to closure their grief and bereavement and to foster peace of mind, they have requested a formal communication written to the Government of Liberia through the Justice Minister, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean to take delivery of the body of their beloved daughter Ms. Princess Cooper for burial.

According to Dr. Momo, they have made many efforts toward this process ranging from sending formal communications to the Ministry of Justice, followed by boycotting the autopsy.

He said all of their communications and actions were never recognized by the Justice Ministry and the Government of Liberia at large.

“That we witnessed and yet to have tangible reasons for which the crime scene was totally exposed and furthermore never protected for a certain period due to the critical occurrence of this mysterious death of our beloved Daughter/Sister, bright future Leader and a national asset,” Dr. Momo lamented.

He raised concerns about the lack of willingness by the government to have brought in all residents within the FAWAZ Compound alongside some nearby residents of the crime scene surroundings as well as eyewitnesses. 

He believed that they would have been strategically questioned and use the evidence gathered from them to be compared with the confirmed visible assessments gathered from the crime scene, “that is if there was any proper assessment done at all.”

Dr. Momo noted that there were few individuals captured as persons of interest, but only certain personalities were exposed to the public both via mentioning their names and publishing an in-house investigation video with one of the listed persons of interest allegedly left out as an unidentified Lebanese.

Momo said the public is yet to be informed as to why the alleged Lebanese was captured and what was gathered during the investigation with him. https://thenewdawnliberia.com/princess-cooper-died-from-tuberculosis-but-pres-weah-has-ordered-another-autopsy/