Zwedru — The prime suspect in the murder of Mordacious Nyemah, a motorcyclist in Maryland County, whose body parts were extracted last has pleaded guilty to the murder charge.
Defendant Moses Mlarmah pleaded guilty upon the commencement of the trial over the weekend.
He allegedly participated in the gruesome murder in April last year and has since been in pre-trial detention at the Zwedru Correction Palace.
Despite his guilty plea, state prosecutors said they will continue with the case to prove the evidence they have against him.
Co-defendants Jeremiah Appleton alias open zipper, Leo K. Williams and Alice Davis pleaded not guilty.
Charges against co-defendant Francis Kla Nyema were dropped by the State in line with Chapter 18 of the Criminal Procedure Law on grounds that he had no connection to the case.
The case transferred from Maryland County to Grand Gedeh county based on a change of venue request made by state prosecutors.
After the prime suspect Moses Mlarmah pleaded guilty, he was asked by Judge George S. Wiles of the 7th Judicial Circuit Court as to whether he was forced to say so but he answered in loud voice saying "No"; admitting again that he did the killing.
Based upon his guilty pleas, state prosecutors headed by Cllr. Wesseh A. Wesseh requested the court for a separate trial in favor of defendant Moses Mlarmah and also in favor of Leo K. Williams, Alice Davis, and Jeremiah Appleton alias open zipper who said they were not guilty.
The request for a separate trial is consistent with Chapter 16, Section 16.10 of the criminal procedure law of Liberia in order not to prejudice the defendants who have issues with the state.
Defense lawyer Rodney O. Moses interposed no objection to the request for a separate trial.
The court granted the request for a severance trial.
Meanwhile, the prosecution filed a motion for continuance into the matter so as to allow them to procure their material witnesses on May 31, 2022, in these proceedings.
But the Defense lawyer interposed objection and argued that the case of the Republic of Liberia involving Moses Mlarmah occurred in 2021 at which time the indictment was drawn in April which should have been sufficient time for the state to have gathered all of its evidence and be prepared at any time.
The defense lawyer prayed the court to deny the motion and order the trial to proceed.
However, the judge considered the motion and postponed the trial till May 3
But the court granted it and have the trial postponed to May 31, 2022 when the state will start the production of witnesses.
The defendants were indicted by the Grand Jury of Maryland County during February 2021, A.D. Term of Court for the crime of murder, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, and armed robbery.
The killing of the motorcyclist, who was also a student of the Pleebo High School led to riots in the streets of Pleebo and Harper and prompted the imposition of a dusk to dawn curfew by President George Weah. The main prison in Harper was vandalized, causing close to a hundred prisoners to escape although many of them were later rearrested. The residence of House Speaker Bohfal Chambers in Pleebo was also set ablaze.
Police charges spelled out
According to the police charge sheet, from March 25 to April 7, 2021, a special investigation team arrested defendant Jeremiah Appleton alias (Open Zipper), Francis Kla Nyema, Leo K. Williams and Alice Davis, thoroughly Investigated them, and subsequently charged them for the murder of Nyemah.
During police investigation to establish how the motorcyclist was killed, it was revealed that on Thursday, March 25, 2021at about 9: 45 am, suspect Moses Mlarmah, 22, a resident of Pleebo City lured the late Mordacious Nyema to go into the MOPP palm plantation under the guise of going for a load (two tin of Palm Oil and two heads of banana).
The investigation established that suspect Moses Mlarmah rode on the deceased's motorbike to the Palm plantation where upon their arrival, he (Moses Mlarmah) pulled out a cutlass and chopped the deceased several times on his neck and the head which led to his death.
That the investigation gathered that suspect Mlarmah dragged and dumped the lifeless body of the motorcyclist Mordacious Nyema in a nearby swamp 14 feet away from the motor road and took the deceased motorbike and fled the scene.
Police Investigation conducted with suspect Mlarmah, he confirmed his involvement in the death of the Motorcyclist Mordacious Nyema and named co-suspect Leo Williams, Alice Davis, Jeremiah Appleton, Francis Kla Nyema as accomplices.
He also informed police investigators that he was not alone act that led to the the death of the Motorcyclist Mordacious Nyema and said he was sent by one 'big brother' he only named as Leo. He explained that he met on March 24, 2021 morning and informed him that he has an operation that he wanted he(Moses Mlarmah) to carry out.
When he asked the big brother as to what type of operation he was talking about, the big brother responded and said he wanted human being blood.
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But he told the big brother in response that he alone was not able to carry out such operation but the big brother Leo Williams (as was discovered by investigators) told him to find another person who could assist him carry out the operation.
According to him, before Leo Williams could leave, he gave him (Mlarmah) US $200 to buy gas for his motorbike for said operation. Suspect Mlarmah said after a little while, he went on the Grand Kru road to have his motorbike washed and he saw Jeremiah Appleton alias Open Zipper and asked him to join him to carry out the operation to get human parts.
Open Zipper asked Mlarmah for money to go smoke before he could say anything and he Mlarmah gave him L$700 and he left but later came back and the both of them decided to go to the Maryland Oil palm plantation (MOPP) with the company's truck and tractor and stopped to the MOPP gate within the plantation.
After they stopped at the MOPP plantation, they saw a motorbike rider identified as Mordacious Nyema where he suspect Mlarmah told the deceased that he had a load on his father's farm in Sami Tugbeh's village beyond the palm plantation that they wanted him to go for.
