A court hearing Liberia's largest human trafficking trial on Monday rejected the defense's request that the court ignore a report on the jury's inspection of the alleged crime scene. The compound, at Gbankpa Town in Margibi County, was inspected on Saturday by jurors, four alleged victims, the remaining eight defendants in this trial, court staff, sheriffs, prosecution and defense teams.
The compound has remained the focal point of the high-profile trial. All of the defendants claimed they used it exclusively as an office for what they described as a legitimate business selling online products and training with Infinity Millennium Platinum Star Limitless Institution, a Liberian organization affiliated with the Hong Kong-based Qnet. They denied assertions by the 57 victims that it was used as a compound to hold them for up to 18 months. It is steps from the home of Vice President Jeremiah Koung.
The defense, led by public defender Sennay Carlor, objected to the report on the visit, arguing that the jurors had failed to carry out Judge Roosevelt Willie's instructions in full.
"The essence of the visitation was to disprove that the complainants were not harbored in the QNET office but were rather living in their homes," Carlor said. "Counsel respectfully informs the court that the visitation fell short of its objective."
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Augustine C. Fayiah, Liberia's solicitor general, countered.
"The submission is totally out of order and should therefore be rejected," Fayiah said. "How does counsel know that, if anyone was there, they were the vice president's security? That raises more questions than answers. He has created his own narrative of the matter."
The compound has not been secured since the alleged victims said they escaped it in September last year, so jurors would not necessarily be seeing it as it was at the time. The court had told the jurors to visit the homes of nine complainants, or alleged victims. The defense argued that the jurors did not go to those homes.
Lawyers on both sides of the trial said that the jurors told the judge that after inspecting the compound, they did not believe they needed to visit the other locations.
After nearly an hour of arguments from both sides, Judge Willie of Criminal Court A, ruled against the defense."The purpose of the trial jurors is to gather evidence, and that evidence was to establish where these victims were sleeping -- whether in the Qnet office or in their various homes," Willie said. "While it may be true that the trial jurors did not visit all the homes as alleged by defense counsel, if the visitation of the crime scene or the Qnet office gives the trial jurors enough information concerning this case, they are not compelled to visit all the places named by the defense because their duty is to find facts and decide."
The case involves 57 alleged victims -- 35 men and 22 women -- who told FrontPage Africa/New Narratives, police investigators and the court that they were held at the compound for between six and 18 months. They alleged they were beaten, raped, tortured, deprived of food, and compelled to recruit relatives and friends by falsely claiming they were living prosperous lives in Canada. Some also accused the defendants of extorting thousands of dollars from them. Shelley Jonny, a former defendant whose charges were dropped after she pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the prosecution, told the court that as many as 150 people were held at the compound at one point.
The victims said they had been promised jobs in Canada before discovering that the promises were false. A Montserrado County grand jury later indicted the defendants on charges of human trafficking, criminal conspiracy and theft of property, concluding there was probable cause to believe they had engaged in what it described as "slavery-like practice/labor exploitation."
The case has now entered its final phase, with both prosecutors and defense lawyers expressing confidence they will prevail. Last week, the defense rested its case earlier than expected, saying the decision was part of its trial strategy. That cleared the way for prosecutors to begin presenting rebuttal witnesses.
Seven rebuttal witnesses testified on Monday, disputing key parts of the defendants' testimony.
Among them was P., an alleged victim who accused Bill Plato--whom she identified as one of the network's two leaders--of rape. Her testimony earlier in the trial stunned the courtroom when she pointed at Plato and accused him of raping her and forcing her to terminate a resulting pregnancy.
When Plato later testified in his own defense, he denied the allegation, saying, in Liberian English, "I did not rape her. We were loving."
As Plato sat in the dock with his hands folded, smiling and looking directly at her, P. rejected his claim that they were lovers and had consensual sex.
"He took advantage of me in his office and slept with me," P. said. "It was one time he did it. My friends know about it. Bill Plato and myself, were not loving anywhere."
P.'s allegations had been among those omitted from the original police charge sheet, along with the statements of three other women who accused defendants Bill Plato, Wuo Zekarso Garteh, also referred to in testimony as Daniel Davis, and Maxson Wonlebaye of rape. Two women told police, FrontPage Africa/New Narratives, and the court that Wonlebaye raped them, allegations he denied.
Enoch Dunbar, head of the Liberia National Police's Anti-Human Trafficking Desk, was accused by the women of altering their initial statements. The victims alleged that a prosecutor, who initially investigated the case, told them he had rejected a US$7,000 bribe offered by Bestman Juah, a public defender who victims allege was paying bribes to police and prosecutors to protect the defendants, to drop the rape and human trafficking charges. The women alleged that Dunbar accepted the money and dropped the charges. Most of the charges were missing from the original charge sheet seen by FrontPage Africa/New Narratives.
In WhatsApp messages to FrontPage Africa/New Narratives in March, both Dunbar and Juah denied the allegations.
Sumo C. Kutu Akoi, the government's senior anti-human trafficking prosecutor, told FrontPage Africa/New Narratives last week that authorities had opened an investigation into the alleged bribery.
Dunbar testified as a rebuttal witness on Monday to defend himself against allegations that he and other officers had stolen property from the accused when they were arrested and acted unlawfully.
During his testimony, Stanley Wonlebaye, one of the defendants, had accused police of taking his belt, book and watch. He also alleged that officers seized the mobile phones of several co-defendants--Bill Plato, Daniel Davis, whom prosecutors and victims identified as Wuo Zekarso Garteh, and his brother, Maxson Wonlebaye.
Dunbar, who said he was not the lead investigator, denied those allegations.
"These defendants, the same lies and deception they used to bring those victims are the very lies they are continuing with at the level of the court," Dunbar said. "I am not in possession of any item belonging to the defendants."
Some defendants could be heard saying, "The man can lie," while knocking their hands in apparent disapproval.
The prosecution's remaining rebuttal witnesses sought to contradict testimony given last week by defendants Jerome Genseh and Alexander Plato.
E.S., another alleged victim, disputed Genseh's claim that he had never given him money. He testified that Genseh, whom he described as his "best friend" since 2015, persuaded her to travel to Canada in April 2025.
"Jerome called me for traveling purposes," he testified. "I gave him US$4,000 cash and he issued me a receipt."
At Judge Willie's request, he stepped down from the witness stand and identified Genseh in the dock. Another alleged victim, identified only as E., also contradicted Genseh's denial that he had taken money from her.
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"Jerome Genseh took US$18,000 from me for traveling," she testified.
E. said she met Genseh through a friend who introduced them because of the promised travel opportunity. She said Genseh encouraged her to leave Grand Gedeh for Monrovia, telling her to "pack your things" because she would not be returning home.
She testified that, despite repeated requests, Genseh never gave her a receipt. Throughout her testimony, Genseh stood in the dock with his hands folded beneath his chin, watching her.
M.L., father of two of the victims, told the court that defendant Maxson Wonlebaye told him that "the children" were ready to travel and invited him to bring them for photographs. He said his nephew, Wonlebaye, photographed his two daughters before he returned to Nimba County. The man said he later received a call from one of his daughters that the promised travel was false and that they were instead in court in Paynesville.
R.L., another alleged victim, also contradicted Genseh's testimony, telling the court that Wonlebaye recruited her with promises of traveling to Canada, prompting her to leave Nimba County.
The trial resumes Wednesday with subpoenaed witnesses from the Liberia Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and the Liberia Business Registry.
They are expected to testify about whether Infinity Millennium Platinum Star Limitless Institution, the organization the defendants said was affiliated with QNET, registered to operate or sell health products in Liberia. QNET has repeatedly denied any connection to the group.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the Investigating Liberia project. Funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The funder had no say in the story's content.
