Mob Justice Resurfaces

 

By: Lewis K. Glay

Forum
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted March 16, 2006

 

The bus stop on 12th Street, Sinkor was a scene of vengeance recently when residents there surrounded a suspected thief they were brutalizing to death until police had to intervene to snatch him away for survival.

The unknown suspect got his trouble when he was reportedly caught red-handed on the Frederick Island that links 12th Street and the Matidi Estate in Sinkor, in a one- room mat hut taking away shoes and other items belonging to the dwellers who were said to be absent when he sneaked into the room.

The level of beating the suspect sustained at the hands of angry mob prompted our staff who was passing by to trace the residence and ascertain the actual story.

He then trekked to the Island, seeking information given the gravity of the incidence.

Met upon arrival at the hut was one Jerry Reeves who claimed to have caught the suspect in the room.
Reeves who was washing his face hastily led our staff into the room and accorded him a seat to narrate the story. He explained that he came from jogging when his brother, sister and grandmother were all absent only to realize that an unusual noise coming from the room.

“I forced the door and open it and saw the guy parking shoes and other items in a plastic bag. All the bags in the room were scattered. What you doing here?” he asked. “Moses sent me”, the suspect replied. “Who is Moses?” Jerry inquired.

“Moses Barleon”, the suspect replied.
Jerry is said to have blown alarm thereby causing residents of the island and those from the estate to converge on the scene, many of whom reportedly began beating on the suspect unmercifully while Jerry and others called on their colleagues to take him to the police for investigation.

Mr. Moses Weah , an elder of the island also told The FORUM that though he denounces stealing, the manner in which the suspect was being handled was not appropriate.

According to him, the long running instability in the country from the 1980s up to the end of the civil war had made Liberians very unlawful to the extent that they prefer taking the law into their own hands, adding, “This government needs to educate the citizens about human rights but it will take time for people to respect the rule of law in this country.”

Another elderly man who seemed to have supported the action of the angry mob, mainly young boys, remarked, “When these guys are going around stealing from people no human rights people or police are there, but when people grab one of them then police and human rights people are coming to beg for them.”

Passers- by who stopped to take a glimpse at the brutalized suspect surmised that if the action had taken place overnight the victim would not have survived.

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