By: SHALLON S. GONLOR
NIMBA COUNTY — The ground of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court in Sanniquellie, Nimba County, was on Tuesday filled with tears as a 40-year-old man who shot and killed his long-time girlfriend in a bedroom pleaded guilty in open court following the reading of his indictment by the 8th Judicial Circuit Court clerk.
Tears roll in the courtroom and compound of the court complex as family members of both the defendant and victim mourned the fatal death of their daughter and mother following the defendant’s guilty plea in open court when he appeared for trial.
Following three months in pretrial detention at the Sanniquellie Central Prison for allegedly murdering his long-time girlfriend, Kou Dolo, a mother of five children, Defendant Emmanuel Socrate Gboe on Tuesday stand trial and confessed judgment, confirming that he killed his children’s mother. In his guilty plea, the defendant prayed to the court through his public defense lawyer to file a plea bargain agreement consistent with Section 16.4 of the amended Criminal Procedure Law (2022).
The provision of the law states that “A plea bargain is an agreement in criminal law proceedings that, if an accused person says she/he is guilty, she/he will be charged with a less serious crime or will 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”.
Defendant Emmanuel Socrate Gboe’s plea deal is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or not to contest a charge in exchange for less penalty from the prosecutor.
According to the court indictment, the grand jurors of Nimba County, sitting in its August Term of Court, A.D. 2024, indicted defendant Emmanuel Socrate Gboe for murder in violation of Chapter 14, Section 14.1(a&b) of the new penal law of Liberia. In Gbarpa Town, Nimba County District 3, Emmanuel Socrate Gboe, who is in his 40s on the night of Tuesday, July 30, 2024, murdered his long-serving wife, Kou Dolo, 35, inside their bedroom with a single-barrel gun.
The indictment further states that the criminal act of the defendant happened when he accused his wife of an extra love affair with a man in the United States that he had not seen or named for which the killing was predicated. According to the indictment, the defendant, Emmanuel Socrate Gboe, also complained that an unknown name in the United States sent money which his wife Kou Dolo (late) purchased clothes and shared with their five children, three boys, and two girls, during the July 26 season without sharing some with he the husband.
The Ministry of Justice filed and indicted the defendant Emmanuel Socrate Gboe, saying that during the morning of the killing, he previously requested sex, and he was denied while in bed with the victim (deceased) along with their five-month-old baby. “The defendant used his long hunting single barrel gun and fired Kou Dolo on her side through her ribs and instantly killed her.” Meanwhile, the 40-year-old murderer asked for forgiveness from the victim’s family and his five biological children. He admitted that his action was triggered by jealousy, regretting his action to commit such a hideous crime.
Defendant Emmanuel Socrate Gboe and his late long-serving wife lived together for about 25 years in a relationship and had five living children. The act of brutality against women in the community of Gbarpa Town is not the first time. The incident brings to two the number of women who have been gruesomely killed by their male partners. According to history, another woman was killed by her husband because of jealousy of an extra love affair in the town. At the same time, the 8th Judicial Circuit Court has announced a sentencing period in the coming days.
