-For Raping a Minor
The Assigned Circuit Judge for the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Sinoe County, His Honor Wesseh Alphonsus Wesseh, has sentenced Defendant Alphonso Karway, age 26, to thirty (30) years for raping a 10-year-old multiple times, in Putu Junction, Wacaba District, Sinoe County.
The indictment formed and brought against the defendant alleged that he first had a devious sexual intercourse with the minor during the evening hours on April 13, 2025, while the survivor and her small sister were sitting under the palaver hut, the defendant appeared there and sent the survivor to his room to fetch his for him and thereafter, he followed her into the room and sexually abused the minor by penetrating her vagina with his penis; thereby causing her to bleed profusely from her vagina and then he threatened to kill her if she revealed the information to her parents.
The indictment continued that the defendant also had another round of sexual intercourse with the minor, during the next morning hours of April 14, 2025 after she and her two smaller siblings went to the creek to wash her clothes, he then appeared at the creek in furtherance of his desire to further perpetrate another round of sexual intercourse against the minor, with a false representation that their grandmother wanted the two siblings return to town.
After the two children left the scene, he forcibly took the survivor and carried her on his shoulder to a nearby bush and had another round of sexual intercourse with her and thereafter he again threatened to kill her if she informed her parents. When defendant Karway was arraigned, he pleaded not guilty to the 12-count indictment and subsequently, opted for a trial without a jury.
During the month-long trial, the prosecution paraded several witnesses, including the survivor and her 8-year-old sister, whom the prosecution deemed its star witness; the survivor’s grandmother among others; and also presented a medical report that indicated that the survivor’s hymen was lost.
However, during his testimonies, the defendant denied the allegations of rape and indicated that it was a trumped-up charge to put him in jail. He also testified that during the period he was accused of having sexual intercourse with the survivor, he was in Jacksonville, Tarjuwon District, Sinoe County, where he said he had gone to attend his father’s burial. In support of his alibi, the defense also presented his mother and sister who testified that the defendant was in Jacksonville, between April 13, 2025, and April 14, 2025;
In order to justify and support his defense of alibi, the defense paraded the defendant’s mother and sister. The Defense’s second witness, Mrs. Monlia Wieh, testified, that she took her husband to Monrovia for medical treatment, but he died in Monrovia, on March 18, 2025. She also stated that by then, the defendant was in Jacksonville, from March 27, 2025; as he did not travel with his siblings to Monrovia, for the burial of their father. She then concluded her testimony and said that the defendant was still in Jacksonville from April 5, 2025, to April 23, 2025, when his sibling returned from Monrovia.
Also testifying for the defense was Ms. Joyce Karway, the defendant’s sister this witness also testified that she is living in Greenville and that the defendant is her brother. This witness then stated that after information that her father had passed in Monrovia, on March 18, 2015, they travelled to Monrovia and returned to Jacksonville, on April 5, 2025, and met the defendant in Jacksonville; but she stated that he returned to Sanquin, on April 23, 2025. She however, stated that she would not have known that he was at Putu Junction, on April 13, 2025, and April 14, 2025, since she does not live in Jacksonville.
The Prosecution then countered the defendant’s plea of alibi by parading several rebuttal witnesses, that included the survivor’s 8 years old sister, who was under the palaver hut, when the defendant allegedly sent the survivor to his room to fetch his for him and was also at the creek when the defendant appeared at the creek and told this rebuttal witness and her brother to return home under the pretense that their grandmother wanted them return home; and the defendant’s immediate LDEA’s Supervisor, Mr. Toway Harmond and an FDA Ranger, Morris Kanneh, who is also assigned at Putu Junction with the defendant. This witness testified that the defendant was at Putu Junction on those two days.
During his ruling and final judgment, Judge Wesseh referenced the case: Emmet Hoff, et al. vs. R.L., decided during the March Term 2023 of the Supreme Court of Liberia; in which the Honorable Supreme Court of Libera held that…” hence, for an alibi to effectively benefit an accused, it must be true, definite, and certain as to the presence of the defendant in a place other than the scene of the crime, at the time the crime was being committed”. The court then said “where the accused present proof or evidence as to raise a strong doubt regarding the substance of the prosecution’s case, the latter is under a duty to rebut such evidence or the conviction will be overturned. David v. RL., 40LLR659(2001), sly 10”.
While imposing the sentence, Judge Wesseh, said a “plea of alibi” is an affirmative defense and once a defendant pleas alibi, then it is controlled by the same principle of law and potency that governs affirmative averment laid in an indictment; and also said” under our law” an accused is required to establish his plea of alibi with the same legal potency and measure of proof as is also done by the prosecution to show with legal certainty the guilt of a defendant”.
The Judge concluded and said “WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING facts and circumstances, this court hereby affirms and confirms its guilty verdict returned against Defendant Alphonso Karway for the Crime of Statutory Rape and he is hereby sentenced to THIRTY (30) days to be served at the National Palace of Correction, Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.
