Africa-Press – Liberia. The Eighth Judicial Circuit in Sanniquellie City, Nimba County, has handed down a guilty verdict against three men for armed robbery of a local businessman in Ganta. The robbery incident took place in December, 2022.
The court sentenced the mastermind, key planner, and executor of the robbery, Bill Padmore, to 20 years imprisonment, while his two accomplices, Roland Keh and Frederick Dumbah, were sentenced to 15 years each.
A fourth person, Terry Suah, who was also arrested by the police in connection to the robbery saga, was found not guilty and set free. Terry is a motorcyclist who was carrying the victim home during the evening hours, when Bill Padmore and his men used an automatic gun to carry out the robbery.
Suah was thought to have been the one who orchestrated or set the victim up for his collaborators to prey on him — it was later proven not to be the case, the court said.
The three men were found guilty of five counts, including criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, aggravated assault, theft of property, and criminal facilitation, respectively.
According to the court document, the convicts will shortly be sent to the Zwedru Correction Palace, where they will serve their sentence.
What has come to be known in Ganta as the first broad day armed robbery took place in late December last year, when Bill Yealay, a young money-changer (foreign exchange vendor), was attacked and shot in his leg while heading home.
The robber made off with over US$5,000 and over L$105,000. The court has ordered the convicts to restitute the money.
The victim was quoted by police, when the incident happened last year, that while he and the motorcyclist were on their way, the motorcyclist made a sudden stop at certain place around Tokay Hill Community in Ganta, as the robbers, wearing masks, rushed on him, asking him to hand over his bag or be killed.
Accordingly, while tussling over his bag and crying for help, the motorcyclist didn’t make any effort to help him out, and the armed gang took away his bag and fled.
The main perpetrator, Padmore, immediately fled with the money to an unknown location until he was arrested in Monrovia this year and sent to Nimba for the trial.
Ganta has been a scene of a wave of criminal activities, especially armed robberies, in the past few years.
Residents of the burgeoning commercial hub were shocked early this year when an angry crowd mobbed to death a Nimba County footballer who, along with others, was reportedly involved in an act of armed robbery.
Since the death of the Nimba Defender popularly known as ‘Sabu’ and the subsequent arrest of the notorious ringleader Abu Weamie, an Ivorian who is believed to be the mastermind behind the series of armed robbery incidents in the county, there has no report of armed robbery.
Meanwhile, the robbery case that led to the death of Sabu and also involved Weamie is pending at the court.
Police Lack Vehicle to Respond to cases
In another development, the Liberia National Police Nimba Detachment has expressed uneasiness over the lack of vehicles to enhance their effective patrol.
“The vehicle given to us last year by the president is giving us too many problems; every day we have to take it to the garage for nozzle problems,” said one of the local commanders, who did not want to be named.
The detachment’s worry comes at a time when the country is heading toward the launch of campaigning in this year’s crucial presidential and legislative elections.
“The only operational vehicle we had finally broke down, while our team was returning from Yarwin Mensonnoh in the far south of Nimba, where there was a report of tension on a new gold field,” one of the top officers told the Daily Observer. “We are anticipating tension in some parts of Nimba during these elections, and so the police need to be equipped to respond immediately.”
The source pointed to three locations that are likely to be the epic centers of prospective election violence, District 7, which will be heavily contested by incumbent Rep. Roger Domah and businessman Musa Bility.
Electoral district 5 is also said to be one of the heavily tension districts between the incumbent Samuel Kogar and several others, while district 4 is also a hotspot, because the incumbent Rep. Gunpue Kargon is facing huge challenges with several candidates, especially candidates of the Unity Party, which may be receiving Sen. Johnson’s blessing.
District 8 is likely to be among some of the hotspots in the pending election because the incumbent, Rep. Larry Younquoi, is facing his arch rival John Mianah, commonly known as the Same John, backed by Senator Johnson and Victor Taryor of UP, as well as former BBC Reporter Jonathan Paylaleh, among others.
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