Monrovia — A Monrovia Court has acquitted a Liberian man accused of trafficking his female compatriot to Oman, following nearly two months of a dramatic trial.
After a little over one hour of deliberation on Monday, nine of the twelve jurors, who heard the case at Criminal Court "A," adjudged Sawo King Zubah not guilty of the charge--the first such a verdict against the Liberian government.
Gabriel J. Smith, the Court's Clerk read the jurors' report in open Court and then pulled each of them or asked them one after other about the verdict.
"In view therefore, as per the law controlling, the defendant is not guilty of the charge of trafficking in person," ruled Roosevelt Willie, the Court's Presiding Judge. "Hence, the defendant is hereby set free. And it is so ordered!"
Beaming with smiles, Zubah, 32, stood to listen to the ruling that has restored his liberty, having spent over a year in jail. Zubah told FrontPage Africa/New Narratives in an exclusive interview afterwards that it was God who set him free.
"Every day, fastening and praying..... Nothing is impossible to God," said Zubah, who held a whitehandkerchief in his hand, which matched the white t-shirt he wore over his orange prison jumpsuit. "By me setting free today from this trafficking case, I am very much happy. I am speechless." As expected, there were opposite feelings to the judgment from prosecutors.
"We think the not guilty verdict of nine persons return in favor of the defendant was improper because it does not commensurate with the evidence presented before them," said Randolph D. M. O. Johnson, a prosecutor in the case.
Zubah's acquittal looks to have dealt a major blow to the government, which until now, had won
all, but one human trafficking case it had prosecuted. The most notable of them is the landmark 25-year conviction, and sentencing in January of Arthur Chan-Chan, a former agent of the National Security Agency. Chan-Chan is however appealing his conviction and sentence. But the state, under Liberia's criminal procedure law, cannot appeal judgments, so Zubah's fate has been sealed.
Legal analysts say Zubah's victory could inspire other defendants to call into question, the truthfulness of the government's prosecution. But Johnson does not think they did a bad job with Zubah's trial.
"It's not actually embarrassing, he said. "It's part of the practice because, what happens is that what we do as prosecutors is that we are here to prosecute and not to persecute. The process was transparent."
The case was anchored on the allegation that Zubah, with the help of others, trafficked to Oman, the woman, whose name has been withheld to protect her from retributions. The woman herself told the Court that she considered Zubah as "a play son," but that he lied to her that she would work as a maid in Oman and earn US$200 monthly. She claimed to have spent US$800 on her travel process, including allegedly giving Zubah US$250 to "soften the ground" at the Roberts International Airport (RIA). She said she used the money from the sale of her personal belongings to pay for her passport, Covid-19 test and meet other requirements Zubah had laid before before her.
But the woman said she was shocked when she arrived in Oman, she was given a hostile treatment, which was contrary to what Zubah had allegedly promised her. She claimed to have been subjected to inhuman, degrading, and life-threatening treatment during the one month and a half she worked for her Omani bosses. The woman also claimed that her bosses detained her for four months, denied food for 136 days and that one of them had attempted raping her. She claimed Zubah did nothing about her complaint to him over the matter, but rather threatened that she could be fired from her job.
As he did in Court, Zubah again denied the woman's allegations in the interview.
"I don't know what to say. I didn't traffic her," said Zubah. "I was very much surprised when she was saying all these lies. It's because of money."
Zubah did however admit that he escorted the woman and her family to the airport, but said it was on the request of her husband.
"He said, I beg you do that. Secondly, because she didn't have an android phone, she gave me her code to do a check for her on the internet. Those were the two reasons I escorted them to the airport."
Johnson had pleaded to the jury in open court to find Zubah's guilty on account of his admission.
"By inference, he engaged, he transported, he recruited and facilitated," Johnson gesticulated in a courtroom packed with journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and family members of the victim and defendant. "A lie is a lie."
But Zubah's lawyers questioned the woman's curability, as they made a case for their client.
"They said Sawo recruited, transported her. Fake! "You (woman) will go into the Guinness Book of Records," said Jimmy Bomo, lead defense lawyer. "You are the only person that lived for 136 days without food," he said as he looked in the direction of the woman, who sat on a long bench, sandwiched between her husband and other family members.
Bombo also claimed that the woman, whose husband is a taxi driver, voluntarily went to Oman to change her family's fortune.
"She went to look for her own job. It's laziness that brought her back," he said. "You cannot be trafficked and then somebody gives you a cell phone and pays you."
The facts and circumstances of the case, in terms of the alleged transportation of the woman to Oman, are analogous to Chan-Chan's. With over 20 years of experience as a state security personnel, Chan-Chan worked at the airport, where he admitted he had "unhindered access."
Unlike in Chan-Chan's case, the state failed to prove that Zubah worked with several Liberian and Omani agents, including one Sara and an airport staff to traffic the woman to Oman. It remains unclear which position the man holds, or whether like Chan-Chan, he's a state security personnel, who freely roams the airport.
Like Chan-Chan's case, this case did raise questions about the prosecutions of "low hanging fruits" or individuals with limited, or no power in the trafficking scheme.
Bombo did raise that in his argument.
"This is a transnational crime. They have the power and resources," said Bombo. "They can go to Oman and catch Princess, the agent. Why are you allowing Sara to go free? If we are sincere about ourselves, let us go for everyone."
Cllr. Aloysius F. K. Allison, Director of Felonious Crime at the Justice Ministry defended their decision to have prosecuted Zubah alone for the time being.
"We had to start our investigation with him first. That does not mean we will not go after the other people," Allison said. "You must have permanent information in your investigation before you proceed.
Like other human trafficking trials, this one was not short of dramas. There were countless of them, including Zubah's open rebuke of his first lawyer, Cllr. Sennay Carlor, II, who had told the Court that the former had pleaded guilty to the charge. Those exchanges prompted Carlor and all public prosecutors to decline providing legal services to Zubah, citing protection of their integrity and a potential conflict of interest. Subsequently, the Liberian National Bar Association complied with the Court's order by providing lawyers for Zubah.
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Carlor was again summoned over Zubah's claim that the police had extracted a statement from him in the absence of his lawyer, but Carlor denied Zubah's assertion. Then, there was a debate over Zubah's educational status. He had claimed to police that he could not read and write, but on cross examination, he did confess that he could read and write between 30-35%.
Another dramatic moment came after the Court separately summoned lawyers for Orange and Lonestar/MTN over the call logs of the woman and others she had spoken to about the trip.
Cllr. Wesseh A. Wesseh, then Chief anti-human trafficking prosecutor, now Relieving Judge, who had begun the investigation into Zubah, was summoned over his role in the matter, especially regarding allegations by Zubah and his lawyers that the former had opposed the woman's plan to waive her complaint against Zubah.
The issue of the procedure and timing of the release of Covid-19 test results also became a major point of contention in the trial. So, the Court summoned Adolphus T. Clarke, the Program Manager for Expanded Program on Immunization at the Health Ministry to explain the process.
As the Liberian government ponders over its loss in a matter that's plagued the country's international image, anti-human trafficking advocates could be watching to see how it bonuses back and reinforces its anti-human trafficking agenda.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the Investigating Liberia program. Funding was provided by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funder had no say in the story's content.
Anthony Stephens With New Narratives
