-For rape, aggravated assault
BY: Shallon S. Gonlor
NIMBA COUNTY — A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for stabbing and raping a 31-year-old woman in Gblor Diallah Town, Tappita City, Lower Nimba County.
The Sexual Offenses Court at the 8th Judicial Circuit in Sanniquellie, Nimba County sentenced Melvin Diah for the commission of the crime of rape and aggravated assault against the 31-year-old woman.
The court on Thursday, February 29, 2024, handed down judgment, convicting Melvin, 25 to serve 20 years in prison and, the remaining 5 years on parole to live in his community under the supervision of the Bureau of Probation and Correction of the Ministry of Justice.
Melvin Diah, a 25-year-old Liberian, resident of Gblor Diallah Town, Tappita City, Lower Nimba County was sentenced based on a plea bargain agreement executed by and between the Ministry of Justice and Public Defense Office of Nimba County with the consent of the convict.
A plea bargain is an agreement in criminal law proceedings that, if an accused person says they are guilty, they will be charged with a less serious crime or receive a less severe punishment.
It allows both parties to avoid a lengthy criminal trial and may allow criminal defendants to avoid the risk of conviction at trial on a more serious charge.
The rape convict, Melvin Diah pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him when the case was called for trial in February 2024.
According to the court’s ruling, failure on the convict’s part during the suspended sentence to refrain from all violations of the laws of the Republic of Liberia his 5-years suspended sentence, he will be automatically restored and remanded to jail to serve.
The ruling furthered that decision as the result of the plea bargain agreement entered, terms and conditions of an eleven counts motion filed by the defendant’s lawyer and approved by the Ministry of Justice through its prosecuting attorney of Nimba County.
The court maintained that the agreement executed between the Ministry of Justice and the Public Defense Office with the acknowledgment and consent of the convict is consistent with section 16.4 of the Criminal Procedure Law as amended providing for a plea bargain agreement.
It can be recalled that on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, during the evening hours in Gblor Diallah Town, Tappita City the convict with a criminal mind stabbed the 31-year-old woman with a knife on the farm road and dragged her into the bush and forcibly raped her.
Preliminary investigation of the Women and Children Protection Section of the Liberia National Police, Tappita Detail established that when the victim heard voices of several persons who were believed to have gone in search of her; she helplessly cried out to whosoever was around to save her life, which family members and other concern citizens rescued her, immediately rushed her to a medical facility for treatment.
At the same time, the Grand Jury of Nimba County sitting in its May Term, A.D. 2023 indicted Melvin Diah for the commission of the crime of rape and aggravated assault, a first-degree felony, citing the unlawful and criminal act of the convict contrary to section 14.70 of the statutory laws of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia.
