The mother of the late Princess Zuo Wesseh told a judge Monday that she repeatedly warned her daughter to end a relationship with defendant Bill Jallah -- a relationship she said she never approved of and that, she testified, ended in her daughter's death.
Waydeh Wesseh gave the account at the Temple of Justice on Sept. 22 after a pre-sentence report was read, and she was sworn before addressing the court.
"My name is Waydeh Wesseh, the late Princess's mother," she told the court. "From the beginning of their relationship, I was not satisfied with this Bill Jallah. I never liked him."
Waydeh said Princess moved to Congo Town and rented a one-room apartment after her mother told her to break away from Jallah. She said she rarely visited the apartment, but learned of repeated problems when Princess began to hide bruises and later showed a cousin a photograph of injuries apparently caused by a beating.
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The Late Princess Zuo
"When I saw the photo I felt bad," Waydeh said. "I told her friends and cousins to show me her place so I could go and see her. I told her that my daughter is no bad bush for a child, so come back, and she returned."
Waydeh said she warned Jallah to stay away from her daughter when he called, and that she reminded him she had raised Princess and did not approve of the relationship because Jallah was married.
"You don't know how I suffered for her. I sent her to school, so stay away from her," she quoted herself telling him.
On Dec. 21, 2024, Waydeh said, Princess called and told her that Jallah had come to her workplace and attacked her. The mother said she told Princess to be careful and to notify relatives if Jallah continued to harass her. Later that day, Waydeh said she received calls and frantic messages; she was eventually told Princess had died.
Bill Jallah has been sentenced to life imprisonment
"When I reached the hospital I found the place packed," Waydeh said. "A woman described the girl and I began shivering. They told me that Bill Jallah stabbed my daughter. I yelled and said, 'What?!"'
Waydeh said members of Jallah's circle told her "nothing will come of it, they will just carry him to jail and later he will come out."
Her testimony followed the court's reading of a pre-sentence report; Waydeh spoke after the report and was admonished to take an oath before offering her statement.
The defendant has not yet been sentenced in the matter, and prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Court officials did not announce the next hearing date at the time Waydeh testified.
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