The former Commander of the Police Support Unit (PSU) assigned at the Zone-6 Depot in the VOA community, Inspector David S. Fayiah, made his first court appearance at the Monrovia City Court on Thursday, August 8.
Fayiah was arrested on August 3, 2024, and is facing charges of murder and possession and sale of items for lethal use in connection with the death of 19-year-old Mohammed Manobah. He has been in custody since his arrest on August 3, 2024, as murder is a non-bailable offense.
Fayiah was charged with murder, possession and sale of physical objects for lethal use following the death of Manobah.
Court documents obtained by the Daily Observer allege that the victim was fatally shot on the evening of August 3, 2024, at about 8 PM at the Banjor Gas Station community.
The investigation revealed that a verbal altercation between the victim and Fayiah escalated, leading to Fayiah chasing and shooting Manobah while he was attempting to flee. The investigation determined that the victim was shot in the upper left back by Fayiah with a Glock 9x19mm semi-automatic weapon.
According to the document, on the evening of August 3, 2024, initial responding officers who responded to the scene from the Zone-6 Base Police Station surfaced at the scene of the incident at the Brewerville, Moulton Corner, saw the deceased lying down, where the alleged shooting incident occurred.
Upon obtaining information about the alleged shooting incident, the constituted team proceeded to the scene of the crime where it met with one Mohammed Bobo, who owned a tea shop near where the victim collapsed, the record alleged.
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Bobo, the document claims, disclosed that while at his shop attending to customers, he received information that there was a situation unfolding at the junction near the shop. He disclosed that he learned that a fellow collapsed at the junction and everyone was running there to find out what had happened to him.
He was there when the victim was taken to the hospital by some members of the community. However, further investigation into the matter affirmed that the victim, Mohammed Manobah who collapsed at the junction, was shot by the police officer identified as Inspector David S. Fayiah of the Police Support Unit (PSU), and Commander of the Zone-6 Depot-3 police station at V.O.A.
Despite Fayiah's claim that the shooting was accidental, the investigation concluded that the shooting was intentional. Following a thorough investigation, which included witness interviews and a crime scene assessment, it was confirmed that the crime of murder had occurred and that Manobah was shot by Fayiah. The investigation found that the victim was shot as a result of the verbal altercation that took place between the victim and the defendant.
During Fayiah's transfer to prison, relatives of the deceased were visibly upset. A family member expressed a desire for justice rather than revenge, stating that they are a law-abiding family.
Dramatically, while Officer Fayiah was being handcrafted and taken to prison, members of the family of the deceased were seen in tears.
A family member who refused to be named was heard saying, "We don't want revenge, because we are law-abiding people. We will wait for justice to be done."
