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Liberia: 'We Want Death Penalty for Armed Robbers'
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The Inquirer (Monrovia)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 29 April 2008
Morrison O.g. Sayon
Several speakers who attended yesterday's public hearing on the high wave of armed robbery activities in the country have proposed the death penalty for all forms of armed robber.
The speakers noted that armed robbery is a hideous crime that falls directly under capital offense and therefore, must not be billable as was done in the past something they noted that the armed robbers are capitalizing on to continue the crime and go with impunity.
Giving an overview on the current Armed Robbery Act: Strengths and Weaknesses, Cllr. M. Wilkins Wright of the Jangaba, Wright and Associates said armed robbers subject their prey (victims) to great mental torture and as such, alleged armed robbers should not be admitted to bail.
Cllr. Wright then called for an amendment in the Armed Robbery Act to remove cases in which the defendants are admitted to bail. He said the crime is a capital offense and a first degree felony under the New Penal Law of Liberia that must carry the same penalty.
Cllr. Wright noted that the Armed Robbery Act has a graduated scales which divided the punishment for the perpetrators as compared to punishment under capital offense as enshrined in the new penal code. He sais there seems to be a conflict in the Armed Robber Act on the penalty for the perpetrators. He said the last two paragraphs of the Act provides for the death penalty under certain condition.
He said penalty for armed robbers are different from other capital offenses. He said the law must be in conformity with the general law under capital offense which calls for the death penalty no matter under what condition.
Other speakers described the act of armed robbery as very inhumane and therefore the perpetrators must be punished by death. They rejected the ideas of granting bail to alleged armed robbers but called for speedily trial.
Cllr. T. Dempster Brown Chairman of the Liberia Coalition of Human Rights Defenders blamed the Ministry of Justice for their lack of willingness to persecute armed robbery cases. He said though government has several persecuting lawyers, they are not willing to go to court to persecute these cases.
He said presently there are 700 armed robbers detained in Liberian prisons while government prosecuting lawyers are not showing any concern.
Meanwhile, legal experts who attended yesterday's public hearing including Liberia's Solicitor General Tiawon Gnoglon are calling on victims of armed robbers to go to court and follow their cases with substantial evidence for persecution of their cases.
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The lawyers and judges then called on community members and neighbors of armed robbers victims to support them (victims) by following the victims in court.
Yesterday hearing was facilitated by Grand Kru County Representative Gbenimah Slopadoe. He lauded the experts for their professional advises and promised that the Community Neighborhood watch team taskforce would collaborate with them to curb the high rate of atmed robbery activities in the country.
The hearing maily deliberated on the roles of the victims, judges and Jury, persecution, the role of the defense, the role of the sentence and the prison.
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