Police want Cllr. Scott cooperates with investigators

By Lincoln G. Peters

The Liberia National Police (LNP) has launched a passionate appeal to former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott and her surviving nephew cooperate with the government for investigation.

The police say they want to establish facts and circumstances surrounding the brutal attack by armed men which led to the gruesome murder of the former Chief Justice’s daughter Charloe Musu and injuries of others.

At a joint press conference graced by Deputy Information Minister for Technical Services Mr. Boakai Fofana and Deputy Information Minister for Press and Public Affairs Jarlawah Tonpo, and Police Spokesman Moses Carter Monday, 27 February 2023, the authorities requested Cllr. Scott to turn out for investigation.

Before armed men brutally murdered Charloe last week, Cllr. Scott said her home had been attacked twice in a row, and she reported those incidents to the police and the Minister of Justice, but the government did not lift a finger to prevent the third attack.

Over the weekend, she lamented about her daughter’s gruesome murder saying she raised the alarm about the deadly attacks and threats against her in vain.

In the wake of the tragedy, Liberia’s former Truth and Reconciliation boss Cllr. Jerome Verdier last week accused Mr. Varlee Telleh, the Deputy City Police Director, of allegedly attacking the former Chief Justice. Verdier alleged that Monrovia Mayor and ruing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) Secretary General Jefferson T. Koijee ordered the attack.

But Koijee refuted the claim during a press conference held Friday, 24 February, saying he had no history of sharing blood in the country.

Meanwhile, the police said they have arrested three persons of interest relating to the incident.

Police Spokesman Moses Carter urged Cllr. Scott and her surviving nephew to make themselves available and cooperate with the LNP team of investigators to help in providing adequate information to the police for prosecution.

“It’s hoped that those four female occupants that were in the house during the incident, including the former Chief Justice, will accord our investigators the necessary cooperation as this investigation seeks to ensure that the perpetrator is made to face the full weight of the law,” said Mr. Carter. 

“And so, we are hopeful that the former Chief Justice along with the other females will speak to our investigators in the soonest possible time,’’ Carter added.

According to him, they are working to question all of the individuals that were present in the house when the incident occurred.

Carter explained that the President and the entire government takes this issue as a major concern.

He said police preliminary investigation found that five females including the deceased and the wounded victims were in the former Chief Justice’s house during the incident.

Mr. Carter said the other four that are left will be subjected to further questioning with the sole internet of establishing facts, and circumstance surrounding the death of the promising Liberian citizen.

“Upon this incident, we have subjected individuals for questioning. These individuals are currently being treated as person of interest. We have subjected the three security guys that were on duty on the night of the incident for questioning,” Carter explained.

He said those being questioned are currently under police custody and they are being treated as persons of interest.

In a related development, Carter said the Liberia National Police through the Ministry of Justice has made available US$5,000 to any individual that will assist the government in providing information to the investigators.

“We can assure said individual that confidentiality will be a major priority,’’ he noted.

Carter urged the public and political actors to desist from what he called uninformed insinuation, misinformation, disinformation and politicization of the ongoing police investigation.