A magistrate’s court in Monrovia, Liberia on Friday sentenced Hans Williams and his girlfriend Madea Paykue to death for the murder of 13 year-old Angel Tokpa in 2007.
The court gave the ruling following months of legal battle, which provoked protests by women’s groups and students sympathizing with the 13 year-old Angel Tokpa.
According to the ruling, Madea Paykue met his boyfriend Hans sexually abusing the 13 year-old in a bathroom in their Duport Road home in Monrovia, when she lost her temper and strangled the girl to death.
To cover up the crime, the couple hanged the girl and lied that she had hanged herself. The mystery was discovered by a Cuban pathologist, who informed the court that the girl was sexually molested before being murdered.
He further argued that it was not possible for little Angel to hang herself from the height she was seen hanging.
According to the ruling, the two have a right to appeal to the Supreme Court for retrial, failing which they would be hanged on March 26 at one of the beaches in Monrovia.
However, the death sentence has to be approved by the President. But since Liberia is a signatory to the treaty abrogating the death sentence, Madea and Williams may end up having their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
Related articles by Zemanta
- IMF Confident That Liberia Will Reach the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative Point At the End of the Year (netnewspublisher.com)
- World Bank Provides $2.8 Million to Liberia for Road Rehabilitation (netnewspublisher.com)
- Mano River Union Countries to Hold Regional Peace Conference in Liberia (netnewspublisher.com)
