Liberia: Suspect, 40, Goes “Missing” In Magistrate’s Custody

Ganta, Nimba County – A 40-year-old man has reportedly gone missing while in detention at the Duo Magisterial Court presided over by Magistrate Victoria Gbalazeh. 

By Franklin Doloquee/Nimba County 0775010549/0886696939

Duo is a town in electoral district 8 of Nimba County.

Suspect Prince Zogbaye’s complaint was taken to Magistrate Gbalazeh by a 14-year-old boy.

According to reports, the teenage boy told the court that suspect Zogbaye had threatened to kill him. 

Zogbaye, a father of eight, was then arrested and handcuffed in Zahn Banla Town and subsequently taken to Duo on a private motorbike. 

Zogbaye was allegedly manhandled by the arresting officer, Arthur Dolo, and Saye Papa, the motorcyclist, while enroute from Zahn Banla Town to Duo.  

The incident occurred on May 9, 2020, between 7 and 8 PM, according to information gathered by this newspaper.

One account, which is yet to be verified has it that Zogbaye, as a result of the alleged flogging, defecated on himself while enroute to Duo Town in district number 8.

Up to the morning hours of May 10, FrontPageAfrica was reliably told that suspect Zogbaye was under the custody of Magistrate Gbalazeh until the afternoon when he went allegedly missing and is yet to be found.

Pastor Enoch Sayegbuoh, a relative of the missing man, told FrontPageAfrica that families and citizens of Zahn Banla Town have resolved not to be involved with any form of violence but to seek justice through the court. It had been rumors that the family and some Zahn Banla Townspeople had been planning to use force to demand answers on the whereabouts of their relative.

Pastor Sayegbuoh believes that violence cannot solve a problem but only increases it.   

“I told our families including the young people and citizens of Zahn Banla town to remain peaceful as we seek legal redress for the missing of our son, father and brother,” he said.

This newspaper was informed that the aggrieved Zahn Banla residents have written the higher court seeking its intervention.  In a related event, a 28-year-old man was allegedly whipped to death recently while in jail at the Magisterial Court in Beeplay, near the Liberian-Ivorian border in District 5, Nimba County.