"Therefore, and based on the Ruling from the Supreme Court of Liberia, the family members can now proceed to the St. Moses Funeral Home to take delivery of Charloe Musu's body," declared Criminal Court 'A' at the Temple of Justice, during the reading of the August 28, 2024 Ruling/Mandate of the Supreme Court, which reversed the guilty verdict of former Chief Justice, Gloria Musu Scott and three of her family members.
On Monday, September 9, 2024, at Criminal Court 'A' Judge, Roosevelt Z. Willie ordered the Ministry of Justice to release the remains of the late Charloe Musu to the family for burial after lawyers for the acquitted appellants stated that, although their clients were released on August 28, 2024, on the strength of the Mandate of the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia and their civil liberties fully restored, they are yet to have unhindered access to their house or home in Virginia, Montserrado County, and therefore requested the Judge to issue the appropriate instruction so as the appellants acquitted to have unhindered access to their premises.
The Appellants' counsel also said that the victim of the crime of murder, Charloe Musu, is still in the custody of the Ministry of Justice and the Clinic up to this moment, and Counsel therefore begged the Court to issue the necessary instruction to the Ministry of Justice to have the body released to the family for appropriate burial.
In response to the motion filed by the Appellants/Acquitted, praying court on the above two counts, one of Counsels for the Appellees/Prosecution said that the two counts of the Appellants/Acquitted were already dealt with in the mind of the Prosecution, that during the jury trial, the family was granted unhindered access to their premises/house on the request of their lawyers, and that the Ministry of Justice only provided security outside of the perimeter so as to prevent intruders who would want to take advantage to make their way in.
Judge Willie, in his ruling after the two parties (Appellants/Acquitted and Appellees/Prosecution), also said that the restriction placed on the body of Charloe Musu was lifted during the trial and that Anthony Musu, brother of Justice Gloria Musu Scott, has long since been at the residence with the keys to the premises. He also alluded to the Prosecution's claims that their only intervention was to keep the environment or the surroundings of the fence/yard safe.
The Judge however ordered the Liberia National Police, through the Ministry of Justice (Appellee/Prosecution), to turn over the property and to give the Appellants/Acquitted unhindered access to the premises immediately as of the date September 9, 2024.
The family of the Appellants/Acquitted is refuting the assertions by the Appellees/Prosecution and the Judge that the property/residence was in the care of the family and that the only responsibility or intervention of the Ministry of Justice was to provide security around the fence and the yard, and also, that the family has since been given unhindered access to the remains of Charloe Musu at the Funeral Home.
The family said they are not surprised however, by these claims because throughout the case, from investigation to indictment and trial, they've seen and experienced similar unorthodox decisions and deliberate unconventional actions that have however failed flat at the end, to achieve their sinister objectives.
The family wonders how the government was able to arrest and charge another group of intruders who breached the premises and entered in the very house why Justice Scott and others were at the Monrovia Central Prison awaiting their appeal hearing, since the responsibility or intervention of the Ministry of Justice through the police, was, according to them, to provide security around the fence and the yard.
It can be recalled that why Justice Scott and three of her family members were still in prison awaiting their appeal hearing, another group of intruders invaded the premises repeatedly with keys and partially lived in, with no presence of police anywhere in or near the compound whatsoever.
It took the courage and remarkable spirit of good neighborliness of the community people who surrounded the compound and prevented the criminals from escaping before police officers from the Zone 6 Brewerville Police Substation arrived and arrested the intruders who claimed they used keys to enter the premises.
Suspects, after their arrest, gave interesting statements to investigators of the Liberia National Police as to how they gained access to the compound that should have been under strict police protection as ordered by the Judge.
Suspect Blessing Cooper, alias "August Jesus", was quoted by the police to have said that in January, 2024, he had gone to "his aunty Gloria Musu Scott's compound to visit, but surprisingly upon arrival, he noticed that all the gates were locked , while the dogs were on the flat top of the shop, but near the gate of the fence, he found two keys lying near the flower pot, with the inscription "AB" on both keys. He claimed to have used the keys to open the gate and entered the premises.
For his part, suspect Abraham Jerbo was quoted by the police as saying that Blessing Cooper is his friend whom he used to see with plenty money, and Blessing was the one who lured him (Jerbo) to Justice Scott's compound to feed the starving dogs.
Jerbo explained that he saw two keys in Blessing's hand, but they instead used a ladder to enter the compound on the alleged advice of one CO-6.
In the compound, according to Jerbo, they saw two other guys who claimed that they were sent by some relatives of Cllr. Scott to carry some items out of the compound for construction work on Brisbane Road in Brewerville City.
According to the police investigators, Blessing and Jerbo admitted to committing the crime of theft by taking away from Justice Scott's home, three (3) cartoons of tiles, one five gallons of vegetable oil, assorted steel rods, ceiling tiles and one television, some of which they sold to a lady by the name of Caroline Williams, and then sold the rest of the items at Duala Market.
Amidst all of these revelations and mind-blowing accounts, the police, with no contact with Justice Scott or any member of the family for a proper assessment and/or inventory to either determine the cost of items stolen and the extent of the damage done, went ahead and charged the suspects.
As the circumstances of how the suspects got keys to the compound and the house remain unclear and the actual value of items stolen and damage unknown, the police also charged the suspects with Criminal Mischief, Burglary and Theft of Property.
The family of Justice Scott, has repeatedly detested the action of police investigators to charge intruders arrested at Cllr. Scott's residence with no contact with, or reference to the family.
The suspects were taken into police custody, supposedly investigated and charged without any reference to the owner(s) of the property they are accused of breaking into.
To the dismay of the family, the investigators charged the suspects with, among other crimes, burglary, and attached an amount of US$4000 as the supposed cost of either items stolen or the extent of damage done to the property (house) without the involvement of the property owner or any member of the family.
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This, the family described as strange, worrisome and could be a deliberate attempt to complicate the case and eventually let the suspects go free without any deeper investigation as to how they gained access to the house that should have been under police protection as mandated by Criminal Court 'A'.
The family has, through their spokesman, Mr. Nathaniel Toe, continuously alarmed that the manner in which the matter was handled appears to be a calculated plan to intentionally confuse the situation and lose the case so the suspects could be set free because a thorough and proper investigation that involves the family could have unearthed some interesting revelations as to how the suspects entered the premises, who they really are, what they did, and the value of what was stolen and the extent of damage done.
The question of a possibility of intrusion into the former Chief Justice's residence was a major factor during the trial, after investigators of the Liberia National Police ruled out any possibility that anybody could intrude into the house, a conclusion that defense lawyers resisted through evidence, including expert testimonies, insisting that there were many possibilities of intrusion, and that the murder was committed by an intruder on the night of February 22, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Musu family and friends have begun preparations leading to funeral services and a befitting burial of their daughter, Charloe Musu. The preparations include formalities to receive the body from the funeral home and series of meetings, one of which is scheduled for Thursday, September 12, 2024, at the Col. Lawrance A. Musu compound 16th Street, land side.
