Monrovia — The Criminal Court 'A' at the Temple of Justice was a scene of interest on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, when Defense Expert Witness, Col. Nathaniel Sieh Hodge, questioned the professional and ethical validity of the police investigation report that led to the charging of Justice Gloria Musu Scott and three others.
Col. Hodge, a former assistant director for criminal investigation and intelligence at Liberia National Police (LNP), special assistant, and deputy director for special services at the National Security Agency (NSA), told the court and jury that he believes the crime of murder was planned and built up over a period before it was committed by someone or persons other than the people being prosecuted.
He said, as a member of the defense and court observation team to Justice Scott's home, he was first interested in knowing the possibility of an intruder entering the premises without being detected. He paid keen attention to the exterior part of the compound and observed that from the fence gate, there's a tree very close to the fence in a few meters that anybody wanting to enter the yard can climb because the fence is not more than 9 feet.
Col. Hodge explained that further down to the fence is another tree (plum tree) that can be used by a criminally minded person to intrude into the compound. Moreover, from the beginning of the eastern point to the western point of the fence, there are two cornerstones, one short and one long about 4 feet that a person can climb on and look into Justice Scott's yard--an experiment he said a female member of the visiting team tried and was able to see the inner part of the compound.
He mentioned also that from the western point to the northern point, there are several trees close to the fence, and at the back is a house that is also close to the fence with trees, many possible means of entry into the yard.
According to Col. Hodge, when he and other members of the team entered the compound, he also paid keen attention to the interior part of the fence and noticed that there are several trees planted in the compound that any criminally minded person can climb and stay there to wait for an opportunity to execute his or her mission.
The former LNP and NSA top investigator further said he took a look at the outside and inside parts of the building itself and noticed that the vehicle park is at the front of the house, and the family normally used the back to enter the house from the outside (country kitchen) to enter the house through the main kitchen.
On the evening of the murder, Col. Hodge found out that Justice Scott drove home, and the gate was opened for her. The gate, he said, has a central locking system and two small iron bars, all of which take time to open.
He explained that Cllr. Scott then drove to the garage, where some items that were in her car were being towed through the kitchen into the house. As an experienced investigator, he also believes that anybody wanting and waiting to enter the house could have used the time they were taking the items from the vehicle to sneak in because it would take not less than three minutes from the garage into the house, and therefore, somebody could have sneaked in.
"I also discovered that there is a guest room that was not being used by anybody at the time and so any intruder could have used the opportunity to secure himself in there."
Regarding the charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, and giving false statements to law enforcement officials, Col. Hodge argued that he read the police charge sheet and read other statements made, but there is no indication whatsoever to inform the court and jury that there was any bad relationship between the now-dead person and those that have been charged and are being prosecuted for murder. So what would cause four persons of the same family, including a grandmother over 80 years old, to have murdered a family member?
As for criminal conspiracy, as mentioned in the police charge sheet, Col. Hodge said, in his professional understanding, there must be a motive for the family members to have conspired because there's no conspiracy without a motive. There has to be malice forethought, but in this case, it is not established by the police investigation, so there are questions of who organized the conspiracy, why did they have to conspire to commit such a heinous crime (murder).
He also told the court and jury that, as a professional, he also searched the police records and there is nothing called or identified as the murder weapon, except that the police believes the murder was carried out by stabbing with a weapon believed to be a knife. Yet, the defendants are charged with murder because according to the police, there was no intruder into the premises, failing to realize that there are different kinds or types of criminals, with different expertise, strategies, and styles.
This, he said, tells him that the police want to keep Justice Scott and family members charged under circumstantial evidence as a basis because, according to them (police), if nobody else was found in the house, then those family members that were there that night are to be held liable for the number.
Col. Hodge also dismissed the testimony of one of the government's witnesses, Zion Tarr, a private security guard on duty that night, that he (Tarr) used a cutlass to cut steel bars from the window, something which is impossible because if such a cutlass was used, the entire blade of the cutlass would be broken and it is, in fact, not possible.
He reminded the court and jury also that after the doors were opened, several persons from the neighborhood, including a Nigerian national identified as Christian Okonkwo, entered the house, and there is a possibility that within that period of those many persons entering, if an intruder was in the house, he would have exited to flee the scenes.
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Col. Nathaniel Sieh Hodge is an experienced law enforcement official, a veteran criminal investigator, and an intelligence analyst who, from October 1973, up to the early part of 2006, worked with the Liberia National Police-LNP as an officer, executive officer, Assistant Director for Criminal Investigation and Intelligence. He also worked at the National Security Agency-NSA from 2006 up to January 2018, working as Special Assistant to the Director of NSA and later on as Deputy Director for Special Services, the department that controls all investigations, including profiling.
It can be recalled that Justice Scott testified on her own behalf recently and termed the government's murder indictment against her and three family members as evil and wicked lies coming from people with a calculated ploy to destroy her and her family.
She told the court and jury on Thursday, November 16, 2023, about her involvement in high-profile cases over the last three years, including the Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence versus Musa Bility of Liberty Party, Senator Botoe Kanneh versus CDC, and Galakpai Kortimai/UP versus CPP and Musa Bility's Liberty Party, the landmine Lonestar GSM versus Orange Liberia GSM case in the United Kingdom amongst others.
She said Charloe was murdered by an intruder, and the charges against her are purely manufactured by people with wicked intent to get at her.
