BY: SHALLON S. GONLOR
SANNIQUELLIE, NIMBA CO. — The Sexual Offenses Division Court of the 8th Judicial Circuit in Sanniquellie, Nimba County, has sentenced two gang rapists to life imprisonment for the brutal assault of a 29-year-old woman working as a security guard at Mount Tokadeh mines on May 15, 2024.
On Thursday, September 19, 2024, Judge Musa S. Sidibey delivered the sentence to defendants Emmanuel F. Saye, 26, and Emmanuel Nyanplue, 20, following a unanimous guilty verdict reached by the jury just days prior.
“”Wherefore and in view of the foregoing, the unanimous guilty verdict of the jury is affirmed. The defendants are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” Judge Sidibey declared.
The jury’s decision came after a thorough examination of the evidence, with the court learning that the victim, who was six to seven months pregnant at the time of the attack, has since given birth to a boy. The heinous nature of the crime prompted the jury to recommend the maximum penalty to the court.
In his ruling, Judge Sidibey noted that the crime was marked by aggravating circumstances that warranted the harshest possible punishment. He cited relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, including Revised Code 26; Section 14.70(4), as well as opinions from the Supreme Court of Liberia, to support his decision.
Judge Sidibey emphasized that the maximum sentence for first-degree rape is life imprisonment, and that such offenses should be treated as capital offenses under section 13.1.1 of the Penal Law.
The Ministry of Justice on July 22, 2024, filed before the Sexual Offenses Division Court an indictment charging multiple defendants Ojuku Zuu, Emmanuel F. Saye, Prince First Sunday, Emmanuel Nyanplue, Abednego Albert, Nyansuah alias (God Three), and others to be identified for the commission of the crime of gang rape, a felony of the first degree.
The document alleged substantially that the defendants acting in concert and in possession of cutlasses raided the Mount Tokadeh mines on May 15, 2024, at 3:00 a.m., and took hostage the victim, RD, and her supervisor, Patrick L. Yarmie who were serving as security guards.
It further revealed that the defendants criminally and intentionally harassed and flogged the victim, 29, inserting their hands and penis into her vagina one after the other. After having multiple sexual intercourse with the victim who was crying for help, the defendants fled from the crime scene carrying with them the victims’ phones, AML yellow machines batteries, and fuel oil.
Adding that the victim was taken to the Yekepa Medical Center and later transferred to the G. W. Harley Hospital in Sanniquellie City. Upon receipt of the complaint, the police launched its investigation and arrested some of the defendants like Ojuku Zuu, Emmanuel F. Saye, and Emmanuel Nyanplue, while others remain at large.
Based on the indictment, a writ of arrest was ordered against the defendants. Subsequently, the indictment was served on defendants Emmanuel Nyanplue, Emmanuel F. Saye, and Ojuku Zuu thereby bringing them under the jurisdiction of the court.
At the call of the case on August 26, 2024, the prosecution, by leave of court, spread on the minutes a submission to enter a plea of nolle prosequi in favor of co-defendant Ojuku Zuu. The motion not having been opposed was granted and the said co-defendant was ordered released from further detention under section 18.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law.
At the trial, the convicts pleaded not guilty to the indictment for the commission of the crime of gang rape but admitted to stealing at Mount Tokadeh mines on the night of May 15, 2024, where the victim and Patrick L. Yarmie were stationed.
The trial commenced with the impaneling of the jury and arraignment of the defendants, Emmanuel Saye and Emmanuel Nyanplue who pleaded not guilty to the crime of gang rape, but pleaded guilty to “stealing”.
In his ruling Thursday, 19 September 2024, Judge Musa S. Sidibey cited several provisions of the Criminal Procedure Laws backed by the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia (Opinions) on gang rape, thus rendering the final ruling and sentencing the defendants to life imprisonment.
He cited a portion of the laws as saying “A person has committed gang rape, a first-degree felony if he or she purposely promotes or facilitates rape or agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause the performance of conduct which constitutes rape.”
Referencing Penal Law Revised Code 26:10.1, the specialized Sexual Offenses Division Court Judge quoted the statute, which he said firstly makes it an offense for a person to facilitate or promote rape, believing it probable that he is rendering aid to a person who intends to commit a crime, engage in conduct which provides such person with means or opportunity for the commission thereof and which in fact aid such person to commit a felony.
According to Judge Musa S. Sidibey, unlike other felonies, the facilitation of gang rape carries the same grade as a first-degree felony because the law writers included it as an element or conduct which if a person commits, he or she is guilty of the crime of gang rape.
His judgment further that had the authors of the law intended a lower grade for the facilitation of gang rape as provided for under Chapter 10 of the Penal Law, they would not have included it as an element of the crime. He noted that the Honorable Supreme Court has held that the intent of the legislators must be construed from the statute’s express language.
“Lawmakers must be said to have intended only what they wrote and nothing more or less; hence the Court has no alternative but to insist upon the strict compliance with the law as it was passed” Judge Sidibey stated.
“…The last part of the offense provides that if a person agrees with one or more persons to cause the performance of a conduct which constitutes rape, he or she is guilty of gang rape”. He further emphasized.
The statute provides that “a person is guilty of an offense committed by the conduct of another person when: (b) with the purpose that an offense be committed, he commands, induces, procures, or aids such other person to commit it or having a legal duty to prevent its commission, he fails to make proper effort to do so. A person is liable under this paragraph by the effort for the conduct of another person when he is either expressly or by implication made not accountable for such conduct by the statute defining the offense or related provisions, because he is a victim of the offense or because the offense is so defined that his conduct is inevitably incident to its commission.” Emphasis added.
The court ruling indicates further that defendants, Emmanuel S. Saye and Emmanuel Nyanplue admitted that they together with four other persons met in Gbapa Town, Nimba County Electoral District #3 in a warehouse owned by Ojuku Zuu, planned and raided the Mount Tokadeh mines. The defendants also admit that the victim was sexually assaulted causing bodily injury and violently raped by the other accomplices at large. Admitted that they saw the victim and Patrick L. Yarmie being held hostage under a yellow machine which admissions tend to establish that they were present at the crime scene.
Noting that they participated in the gang raid which resulted in the assault and rape of the victim, adding that the court cannot understand how the defendants are not connected to the crime committed when the evidence clearly shows that they acted in concert with others to commit a felony.
Emphasizing his ruling, Judge Sidibey relied on the presentence investigative report of the Division of Probation of the Ministry of Justice filed with the court as mandated, which he said report informs the court that the defendants were interviewed and that they admitted being part of the gang that raided the Mount Tokadeh mines but denied raping the victim.
Quoting further the community’s account and the victim’s impact statement of the report in his ruling, Judge Musa S. Sidibey said the Quarter Chief and the Watch Forum Chairperson of Gbapa Town, Flomo Jackson confirmed that the act of gang rape happened at the mines of AML operating area on May 15, 2024, near Gbapa Town.
“The above-named watch forum chair said they were the first people from the community who went to the crime scene and later on arrested defendant Emmanuel Saye in Gbapa” he stated.
According to him, Flomo Jackson said when the Liberia National Police Officers arrived in Gbapa, they aided them in pursuit of the criminals who gang-raped a female officer of the Loyal Protective Guard Services (LPGS).
According to the watch forum chair, defendant Emmanuel Saye escaped from his men before LNP Officers arrived, but his men still managed to re-arrest him this time around in his hometown of Geipa near Zorgowee town.
The Sexual Offenses Division Court Judge then quoted the victim’s impact as saying “The victim explained that a group of men surrounded her and her supervisor up the mines at night where they were assigned at Mount Tokadeh on May 15, 2024, armed with cutlasses”.
The court judgment on Thursday meanwhile adjudged guilty and sentenced the defendants to life imprisonment to be served at the Sanniquellie Central Prison.
But responding to the ruling, Defendants Counsel, Cllr. Tarlo Wehyee took exception to the ruling and announced an appeal to the high court, the Supreme Court of Liberia sitting in its October Term, A.D. 2024 to take advantage of the statute controlling.
