The courtroom of Criminal Court 'B' was a scene of grief and disappointment after Judge Nelson Chinneh acquitted an American missionary, Lucas Richards, who was accused of attempting to murder his Liberian wife Jessica Lloyd in September 2023.
Chinneh who presided over the case as judge and juror, said that throughout the entire proceeding, the prosecution neglected to produce the criminal instruments that were used in the commission of the crimes charged as well as the pieces of evidence that are capable of supporting allegations and or charges in the indictment.
"It is the holding of this court considering the facts, circumstances, and laws controlling. The defendant is hereby adjudged, not guilty of the crimes." Chinneh ruled.
"The defendant is hereby ordered discharged from ever answering these charges and his bail bond ordered, if any, returned; the judge further ruled."
On December 14, 2023, the government of Liberia indicted defendant Lucas K. Richards with the commission of the crimes of aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit murder, felonies of the second degree.
According to the indictment, on September 14, 2023, the defendant herein injected and dosed the private prosecutrix, Jessica Lloyd, with an unknown substance with the intent to abort her three-month pregnancy.
The State further alleged that the indictment of the defendant, having noticed that the private prosecutrix was helpless and weak as a result of the doses of medicine and injections, took advantage of her on September 14, 2023, at about 1500hrs around the Palm Farm community, Township of Dixville, Montserrado County, Republic of Liberia. The defendant, with Criminal intent, struck Jessica Lloyd on her forehead and when she fell on the ground and became unconscious, the defendant got on her unconscious body and began to slash her throat with a knife, in an attempt to kill her.
The judge explained that in a criminal case, the evidence must be corroborated to be weighed and reliable. Uncorroborated evidence is insufficient to convict a defendant.
According to him, Jessica Lloyd, who is the lone testimony of the eyewitness, Enerst Philip, without any corroborating evidence linking the defendant to the crime, is insufficient to sustain the indictment.
"Even the Holy Bible, speaking to corroboration, says that from the mouth of two or three witnesses, ye shall establish the truth, St. John 8:17," he said.
He ruled that the testimonies of Jessica Lloyd vary from one stage to another. For instance, before the eyewitnesses at Palm Farm Dixville, Jessica Lloyd stated Lucas Richards did not do anything to her.
Secondly, he noted that when she appeared as general witness, she said that when she woke up and was coming out of the ditch, she never knew that she was injured or bleeding until one of the ladies who came to her rescue went to her to tie a cloth around her neck to stop the bleeding.
"When she appeared as the prosecution's rebuttal witness, she said that Lucas Richards hit an iron on her head and subsequently attempted to slice her throat. She also said that she never knew that Lucas Richards wanted to kill her until he pulled off [in his car] from the Crime scene:
According to him, the variance in Jessica Lloyd's testimonies is glaring.
"The court defined variance as a difference or disagreement between two parts of the same proceeding which ought to be in consonance," he noted.
Chineh said it was not disputed that the private prosecutrix sustained injuries on September 14, 2023, while she was out with the defendant herein for a ride. The place and time when the injuries were sustained are also not disputed," the Judge noted. He added that the only unanswered question is "who inflicted the wounds on the victim, Jessica Lloyd?"
However, Judge Chineh noted that during the trial of the case, there were claims and counterclaims which required thorough investigation by his court.
One of such said claims, according to Judge Chineh, is that the state is alleging that the wounds were inflicted by the defendant herein while the defendant, as well as some of the angry crowd, are alleging that the wounds were inflicted by another person.
Also, Judge Chineh said, some angry crowd said that wounds were inflicted on another person, particularly Enerst Philip, the boy who was allegedly beaten by some of the angry crowd.
According to Judge Chineh, the evidence before the court speaks to two persons being beaten by the angry crowd, defendant Lucas Richards and Enerst Philip.
At the same time, the Judge also said that Enerst Philip accused the defendant Lucas Richards of being the perpetrator of the crimes.
Citing the case, Gussie vs RL 28LLR276 (1979) during his ruling, the Judge said evidence that might have supported the charge against the defendant and could have been used must be produced at the trial or the defendant would be acquitted.
According to him, it is an established law in this jurisdiction that the best evidence which the case admits of must always be produced; that is, no evidence is sufficient which supposes the existence of better evidence. Bah vs. RL, 36LLR541(1989).
The Judge further ruled that Jessica Lloyd, who testified as a general witness, told the court that she went off (unconscious) when she was hit and never knew that she was wounded. But when she asked to serve as one of the prosecution witnesses, Jessica said, Jessica was quoted as saying, "no motorbike hit me."
"It was only Lucas and me in the car and he asked me to help him fix the back tire, while helping him, he hit me from the back of my head and I fell to the ground. [When] trying to wake up, defendant Richards pushed me back to the ground and he started to slay my neck and now you can see the mark on my throat, and if he is saying that I was hit by a motorbike, why are my legs not broken? Why was I not treated for any bruises on my skin? There is no mark on my skin and if he says it is a motorbike, why is he still saying to his lawyers for us to come to his office to give us the amount of US$10,000? That is a wicked man and he wanted to kill me like a chicken. He is worse than the devil.
But addressing Jessica's two separate statements, the judge explained that a victim who was unaware of what was happening around her, accounting for things that happened to her while she was still in her state of unconsciousness is unusual. He continued that state witness by a third party.
Following Judge Chinneh's reading of the not-guilty verdict, Lucas Richards was escorted out of the courtroom to freedom by his lead counsel, Cllr. Eric Marlue, who advised his client against speaking to the press. But the court's verdict was not the only one pronounced upon him.
Jessice Lloyd followed him out of the court and in a short and pointed verdict directed at Richards, said: "God will punish you. You will die, your eyes will be open. God will punish you. You will die, your eyes will be open, for what you did to me. And the shame you caused my family and I, you will suffer! I curse you! You will suffer! You will die, you generations, your generations will bear the consequences of what you did. You will suffer, Lucas. You will suffer. And any judge and lawyer that backs you as well, their children's children will suffer [because of] this thing. Your children's children will bear the consequences of what you did."
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As she finished her thought, Richards's lawyer shoved him into a white car, slammed the door shut and the car left the Temple of Justice. Jessica proceeded to locate her mother, Cynthia, who had been waiting outside with Jessica's twin brother, Jesse, who earlier fell unconscious in the courtroom and had to be carried out.
Suddenly the courtyard was filled with the sounds of agony and wailing and what many described as a travesty of justice. Some believed that the tens of thousands of US dollars offered to Jessica Lloyd and her family by Richards' lawyers, which the family rejected, was allegedly redirected to the judge.
Speaking to reporters, Jessica said: "With all of the evidence and everything, the case was ... He didn't have one witness - it was only him that testified on behalf of himself. But we had close to seven or eight witnesses. But for the judge to say Lucas is not guilty, I don't know. But God is good, anyway. I am alive today and I'm grateful to God. The judge sat there, he knew everything. And just for little or nothing -- even the bribe that I talked about, he didn't even pay attention to that. I don't know how much they gave him. But It's like he's not even looking at the future. He hasn't seen the wrath of God yet, but his children -- he has daughters -- his children... his generation will suffer for what happened today, for not giving me justice."
