Shallon S. Gonlor / shallonsgonlor@gmail.com
NIMBA COUNTY, LIBERIA — All twelve trial jurors in a criminal trial involving two alleged armed robbers at the 8th Judicial Circuit Court in Sanniquellie, Nimba County have returned a unanimous guilty verdict against the defendants.
Principle defendant Abu Weamie and Co-defendant Samuel Gaye along with the late Victor Yanglee alias Sabu Yanglee were indicted by the Ministry of Justice for the commission of the crimes of Armed Robbery, Theft of Property, Aggravated Assault, and Criminal Conspiracy in violation of sections 15.32, 15.51, 10.20, and others of the Penal Law of Liberia.
Yanglee, who was a player of the Nimba County football team for many years, died as a result of a mob attack after being caught, allegedly, in a robbery attack.
The jurors, comprising of men and women unanimous guilty judgment comes after an hour of careful consideration of the evidence adduced during the trial of said case.
The jury’s guilty verdict was reached on Monday, March 17, 2025, from their room of deliberation following both the prosecution and defense lawyers resting with argument and presenting their species of evidence in the case, as well as the court charging the jury based on facts and the law citations.
The Resident Judge of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court, Pape Suah at the time of instructing the jurors emphasized the weight of evidence and credibility of the witnesses, charging the jurors to determine the facts of the case, noting that the jury is the trier of facts.
But in response to the verdict, the defendants’ lawyer took exception to the jury’s verdict and announced an appeal to the Supreme Court to take advantage of the law.
Meanwhile, Judge Pape Suah noted the exception of the defendants’ counsel, announcing that he will deliver his final judgment and sentencing within the coming days when the notorious Ivorian armed robber Abu Weamie and his accomplice Samuel Gaye will be sentenced to a long-term prison term.
The Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Sanniquellie City, Nimba County on Tuesday, February 8, 2025, commenced a hearing into the armed robbery case involving notorious Ivorian armed robber Abu Weamie, along with his accomplice, Samuel Gaye, and the late Victor Yanglee.
The trial opened with defendants Weamie and Gaye pleading not guilty to all the charges, including armed robbery, aggravated assault, theft of property, and criminal conspiracy after the reading of the indictment by the clerk of court.
Despite the defendants denying the charges levied against them during the trial, the jurors came down with the guilty after a careful review of the arguments from both the prosecution and defense lawyers.
These men, including the late Nimba football player Victor Yanglee, commonly known as Sabu, were allegedly involved in multiple armed robbery activities where the perpetrators used real automatic weapons to accomplish their objectives.
According to the court indictment, they were linked to the armed robbery activity at a Nigerian tea shop in Saclepea City on November 24, 2022, where they used an automatic weapon to steal an unspecified amount of money.
Following the Seclepea incident, on February 7, 2023, another armed robbery took place in the Gleeyinlu Community in Ganta. An elderly man was attacked by three armed men who took away his bag containing L$48,000.
During the Ganta incident, an angry mob attacked one of the alleged armed robbers, who eventually died. They later discovered that the dead armed robber was a Nimba County football player.
Abu Weamie and Samuel Gaye fled on a motorcycle to an unknown location. However, the police eventually persuaded them to surrender, and they were arrested after weeks in hiding.
As the case opened at the time for the hearing, Judge Pape Suah ordered defendant Samuel Gaye to be rearrested and placed behind bars after being out on personal guarantor bail since 2023.
Judge Pape’s order came after the prosecution requested the court to revoke all prior legal instruments that guaranteed the bail, citing Article 21(d) of Liberia’s 1986 Constitution.
However, Gaye’s defense team opposed the prosecution’s motion, arguing that it was a violation of rights under Liberian law, but could not quote the article of the Constitution.
They further requested the court to deny the prosecution’s request, but Judge Pape Suah ruled in favor of the prosecution, citing provisions of Liberia’s Criminal Procedure Law. He emphasized that the law does not impose a statute of limitations for capital offenses, allowing trials to proceed at any time.
