Shallon S. Gonlor / shallonsgonlor@gmail.com
SANNIQUELLIE, NIMBA COUNTY, LIBERIA — The Resident Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Sanniquellie City, Nimba County, Pape Suah has sentenced two notorious armed robbers, Weamie Behyee alias Abu and Samuel Gaye to 20 years in prison.
Judge Suah at the same time ordered the convicts to pay $8,130 U.S. dollars and 120,000 Liberian dollars to the victims, making a full restitution of the amount stolen by doubling the gain realized.
“Both defendants Weamie Behyee aka Abu and Samuel Gaye are ordered to make full restitution of the amount stolen by doubling the gain realized; that is to say the amount of $3,865USD shall now be US$7,730, the phone value of US$200 shall be US$400, the LRD value of $12,000 shall be LRD 24,000 while the LRD48,000 shall be LRD96,000, same shall be paid to the victims respectively. The failure of the defendants to restitute the amount hereinabove, they shall also remain in jail to serve an imprisonment sentence on a US$25 monthly basis until the amount is liquidated as punishment,” he said.
The convicts, an Ivorian National, Weamie Behyee alias Abul, and his accomplice, Samuel Gaye, a Liberian were arrested and indicted on June 23, 2023 by the Ministry of Justice.
The Justice Ministry through the County Attorney for Nimba County filed two (2) counts of indictments against the defendants, Weamie Behyee alias Abu and Samuel Gaye were based on a true bill presented by the Grand Jury for Nimba County on March 14, 2023, sitting its February Term, A.D. 2023.
The defendants along with the late Victor Yanglee alias Sabu Yanglee were charged with the crimes of Armed Robbery, Theft of Property, Aggravated Assault, and Criminal Conspiracy and trial began on February 18, 2025, with the aid of the trial of fact.
The trial opened when the defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges levied against them by state prosecutors after the reading of two (2) counts of indictments by the court clerk.
The court’s record specifically the indictment alleges that on November 24, A.D. 2022 during the night hours between 10-to-11 p.m. in the City of Saclepea, Nimba County, the defendants knowingly and intentionally committed the crimes of ARMED ROBBERY, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, THEFT OF PROPERTY AND CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY when they attacked a Nigerian Businessman, Oyenbuchi Oduchie Uba, and forcefully took away Three Thousand, Eighth Hundred Sixty-Five United States Dollars (US$3,865.00); Twelve Thousand Liberia Dollars (LD$12,000.00); One touch screen cell phone valued at Two Hundred United States Dollars (US$200.00) and other cash from sales that was not counted, along with Thirty-Two (32) Pieces of motorbike tire.
The indictment narrated further that the Defendants who were acting in concert, knocked at the door of the Businessman in Saclepea at about the hours mentioned under the pretense that they needed motorbike tires to buy because they were on their way to Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County that night and when the Nigerian Businessman opened his shop door, co-defendant Sabu Yanglee, now deceased, placed him under gunpoint, specifically a pistol gun while co-defendant Weamie was hauling the items.
According to the court document, while in the process, Mercy Oduchie, wife of the Nigerian Businessman, was alarmed and tried to escape for which co-defendant Weamie Behyee ordered his counterpart, Sabu Yanglee, now deceased to shoot the Nigerian man which he did and the bullet entered on the left side of victim Oyenbuchi Oduchie Uba’s stomach that caused him to bleed profusely.
The court emphasized that after the robbery, the defendants got on their motorbike and headed towards Ganta with the stolen items but they were later identified by the victim upon their arrest in Ganta on February 7, 2023, after the second armed robbery incident.
The indictment further alleges in its second count that on February 7, 2023, at about 8:55PM and in Glenyiluu Community, Ganta City, the Defendants again arm robbed private prosecutor, Harry N. Kerkulah, when co-defendant Sabu Yanglee pushed him down, fired several rounds of pistol gun around Kerkulahr and took away his bag containing Forty-Eight Thousand Liberian Dollars (LD$48,000.00), Computer stick, and Three (3) ID cards, namely: Social Security, Working and Citizen ID Cards. The indictment further states that amid confrontation, hostility, and gun firing, co-defendants Samuel Gaye and Weamie Behyee, alias Abu hastily escaped on a Bajaj motorbike leaving co-defendant Sabu Yanglee on the ground and later becoming a victim of mob action that led to his death.
The court said because money and other items were forcefully taken from the victims, the use of a pistol gun in the commission of the crimes, the shooting of one of the victims in his stomach, and the fact that the defendants acted in concert, the indictment concluded that the defendants committed the crimes of Armed Robbery, Theft of Property, Aggravated Assault and Criminal Conspiracy.
At the call of the case on February 18, 2025, one of the Counsels for Prosecution, Cllr. John D. Miah, spread on the minutes of Court, a submission to rescue himself from the trial case on the ground that the defendants are his nephews and as such he cannot sit and prosecute them. This submission was resisted by one of the Counsels for Defendants praying the Court to deny and dismiss the same on the ground that Cllr. John D. Miah as County Attorney for Nimba County, having arrested, detained, and drawn an indictment against the defendants without declaring his conflict of interest, cannot come now at trial and say that he cannot prosecute the Defendants because they are his nephews and therefore the Court should deny same.
In passing on this submission, the Court ruled that Cllr. John D. Miah having drawn an indictment against the defendants, an action which set the stage for trial, without declaring his conflict of interest, cannot and shall not be rescued from the case. Therefore, the submission for Cllr. John D. Miah’s to rescue himself from the trial case was denied by the Court and the case was ordered to proceed with.
Proceeding further, the Prosecution prayed Court for the indictment to be read to the criminal defendants in the dock to ascertain their pleas. After the reading of the indictment to the criminal Defendants, one of the Counsels for the Defendants objected that the defendants should not be made to plea to the indictment on the ground that the indictment was defective and defiles the statute as to the date, time, and place of incident; stating further that the indictment is not clear, concise and precise as to the date, time and places of the event as required by statute, relying upon Chapter 14 of the Criminal Procedure Law. This objection was argued by both parties and subsequently denied by the Court relying on Chapter 16, Subchapter 16.3 of the Criminal Procedure Law.
The court therefore ordered the defendants to plea to the indictment and they pleaded NOT GUILTY, thereby joining issues with the State. The trial began with the selection of Fifteen (15) Petty Jurors who sat and tried the case as judges of facts.
During the trial, the Prosecution paraded seventh witnesses who took the stand, testified, and rested respectively Iinking the defendants to the crimes levied against them.
According to the court, the defense counsel also took the witness stand and produced seven witnesses whose testimonies had variance and did not corroborate and the defense pleaded alibi, but they failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate their claim.
The court quoted defendant Samuel Gaye’s testimony in part “The defendant took the witness stand and testified that he had no involvement in the crimes alleged against him (The alibi pleaded by this defendant, he did not provide sufficient evidence to exonerate himself from the charges levied against him). He stated that he did not know Abu Weamie and only knew Sabu Yanglee casually. That he and Sabu were never together throughout, and that it was only in Sanniquellie here that he and Sabu were together on the day the armed robbery took place.”
This statement was rebutted by the Prosecution rebuttal witness who rebutted that Samuel Gaye and Sabu Yanglee rode on the same motorbike to their house in Glenyiluu Community, Ganta City that evening on February 7, 2023, and that she even cooked fufu and served them and they ate together with her husband, the court stated.
The Circuit Court also quoted defendant Abu Weamie that “he was not in Liberia; rather he was in Abidjan in November. That he came to Liberia on the 29″ of November in Guagotuo,” but the Prosecution rebuttal witness, victim Oyenbuchi Oduchie Uba rebutted said statement and said that on the 24th of November, 2022 he saw defendant Abu Weamie and he recognized him clearly in his shop because the light was on when they knocked at his shop, opened it pretending that they wanted to buy challenger tires for their motorbike. And it was defendant Abu Weamie who instructed one of his men to fire him.
For their part, the trial jury on March 17, 2025, reached a unanimous guilty verdict from their room of deliberation following both the prosecution and defense lawyers who rested with argument and presented their species of evidence in the case, as well as the court charging the jury based on facts and law citations.
The unanimous guilty judgment comes after an hour of careful consideration of the evidence adduced during the trial. All twelve jurors sitting on the criminal case returned a unanimous guilty verdict against the defendants.
Giving effect the the jury’s unanimous verdict, the Resident Judge of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court, Pape Suah on Friday sentenced the notorious armed robbers to 20 years jail sentence.
“The Trial Jurors have, based on the evidence adduced at trial and testimonies including arguments from both parties, unanimously brought the two defendants down guilty on all four crimes of Armed Robbery, Theft of Property, Aggravated Assault, and Criminal Conspiracy,” Judge Suah emphasized, adding that the defendants were all charged with the commission of the crimes and that they were the gunmen who fought with, shot and injured victim Oyenbuchi Oduchie Uba in his stomach and stole his monies; and terrorize other individuals during the commission of the crimes, put them in fear and imminent danger by firing the deadly weapon.
In his ruling and final sentencing, Judge Suah also ordered the defendants to pay $8,130 U.S. dollars and 120,000 Liberian dollars in restitution to the victims while serving their prison terms respectively, mandating them to make full restitution of the amount stolen by doubling the gain realized.
He ruled saying “The victim testified that on November 24, 2022, three armed men forcibly entered his shop and held him at gunpoint. He was shot in his stomach, and the robbers took USD 3,865, LRD 12,000, a mobile phone valued at US$200, and 36 pieces of motorcycle tires. The witness identified the two of the defendants in open Court who attacked him, clearly stating that they did not wear masks, allowing him to recognize their faces under bright lighting.”
He further said their failure to restitute the stipulated figures, would remain in jail to serve an imprisonment sentence on a US$25 monthly basis until the amount is paid as punishment.
Judge Suah argues the trial jurors, who are the sole judges of the facts, weighed the credibility of the testimonies of the Prosecution and that of the defendants and concluded that the defendants were bad guys and therefore adjudged them guilty of the crimes of armed robbery, theft of property, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy.
The Court Resident Judge stressed that it found it prudent to confirm and affirm the guilty verdict of the jurors who have brought unanimous verdict before the court against the Defendants.
“Wherefore and given the foregoing, the defendants are hereby sentenced to twenty (20) years jail sentence imprisonment, including the date they were arrested and detained respectively, in keeping with Section 15.54(1), of the Penal Law.”
“The jail sentence imprisonment terms of the defendants shall be served at the National Palace of Correction, Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County. Both defendants Weamie Behyee aka Abu and Samuel Gaye are ordered to make full restitution of the amount stolen by doubling the gain realized; that is to say, the amount of $3,865USD shall now be US$7,730, the phone value of US$200 shall be US$400, the LRD value of $12,000 shall be LRD 24,000 while the LRD48,000 shall be LRD96,000, same shall be paid to the victims respectively. The failure of the defendants to restitute the amount hereinabove, they shall also remain in jail to serve an imprisonment sentence on a US$25 monthly basis until the amount is liquidated as punishment,” Judge Suah concluded.
