-For Armed Robbery In Gbarpolu County
A Guinean National of Fula origin, Chernoh Jalloh, was on December 19, 2024, sentenced to Fifteen (15) years of imprisonment by the Presiding Judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court, His Honor Wesseh Alphonsus Wesseh for armed robbery after he pleaded guilty to armed robbing a commercial cyclist Benedict Binda, who was on his regular course of activities from Gungbeta, Gbarpolu County to Totota, Bong County.
The indictment substantially alleged that the armed robbery incident occurred on Thursday, May 23, 2024, around Stewartville, in Bokumo District, Gbarpolu County, when Benedict Binda, a commercial motorcyclist, was on his regular course of activities from Gungbeyta and while on his way to Totota, Bong County, Defendant Jalloh stopped the Victim, under the pretense that he had load of five bags of peppers for the Victim to carry for him to Totota, Bong County at a transportation cost of LRD500 per bag.
The indictment said while the Victim was transporting the Defendant to where the Defendant claimed he had his goods kept, the Defendant jumped out of the moving bike and then removed his single barrel shot pistol (gun), and fired the victim with a single barrel shotgun at the back of the Victim thereby inflicting serious bodily injuries on the peaceful body of the victim.
When Defendant Jalloh pleaded GUILTY to the indictment, and thereafter, his guilty plea was accepted and recorded on the minutes of court after a court’s inquiry was made as to his guilty plea. See Section 16.4: Plea, Criminal Procedure Law, Title 1LCLR.
However, the court was left with no option but to accept Defendant Jalloh’s guilty plea, even though he was indicted for Armed Robbery, which is a capital offense of the felony of the first degree.
The court then mandated the Clerk of this Court to request the Bopolu Central Prison for the presentence report, which indicted that Defendant Jolloh narrowly escaped from the Emirate Hospital in Bopolu while he was undergoing treatment for medication complication but was rearrested by the joint security of Gbarpolu County a manhunt.
During his sentencing hearing, the court presided over by His Honor Judge Wesseh Alphonsus Wesseh mentioned the armed robbery law, which “Chapter 15, section 15.32 of the Penal Law of Liberia defines Armed Robbery as” a person had committed a capital offense of armed robbery a felony of the first degree if, in the process or course of committing theft, he threatens to kill, kills, or inflicts bodily injury upon a person or group of person, or places such person or group of persons in imminent danger or peril of life under gunpoint, or using explosive, weapon or other lethal devices or instruments.”
Judge Wesseh also indicated during his ruling and said” as per the criminal indictment formed and brought against Defendant Jalloh and coupled with the defendant’s voluntary confession to the crime of armed robbery, then the defendant’s act is graded as a very extreme form of “Armed Robbery statute, which says“ following a conviction of the crime of armed robbery or highjacking under Sections 14.54 and 15.32 of this Act, the felons shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for not less than ten (10) calendar years, nor more than fifteen (15) calendar years where no property damage or personal injury ensues from the acts of the offender or offenders.”;
The Judge continued and stated that the Penal code also specifies that” any person or group of persons who shall be convicted of the capital offenses of armed robbery, highjacking or terrorism, shall be sentenced in the following manner:
1. Following a conviction of the crime of armed robbery or highjacking under Sections 14.54 and 15.32 of this Act, the felons shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for not less than ten (10) calendar years, nor more than fifteen (15) calendar years where no property damage or personal injury ensues from the acts of the offender or offenders;
2. Any person or group of persons convicted of the crime of armed robbery or highjacking under Sections 14.54 and 15.32 of this Act shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than fifteen (15) calendar years, nor more than twenty (20) calendar years where personal injury is sustained and/or valuables taken away as a result of the act of the felon or felons.
Judge Wesseh said,” Since the indictment alleged that the Defendant shot the Victim with a single barrel shotgun, severely wounding him, this court, therefore, says given these circumstances and the callous behavior of the Defendant are extreme forms of armed robbery under the law. Hence, the use of a single-barrel shotgun to inflict bodily injuries on an individual while perpetrating an armed robbery warrants a harsher sentencing.
While this court is determined not to flaw the law during the imposition of a sentence, the Defendant’s guilty plea should have served as a mitigating factor in the imposition of a sentence.
However, his prison report speaks to a situation wherein he escaped from the Emirates Hospital in Bopolu while he was seeking medication attention for coughing at night, chest pain, and fatigue.
In the same vain, the Counsel for the Prosecution informed this court that the Defendant escaped from the Emirate Hospital In Bopolu while he was undergoing medical treatments and also told this court that the Victim in this armed robbery case was still undergoing treatment for wounds he suffered during the armed robbery incidence; and also informed this court that the Defendant is a flight risk as he is a foreign national.
“WHEREFORE AND given THE FOREGOING, Defendant Chernoh Jalloh is hereby adjudged guilty of the crime of Armed Robbery and is sentenced to fifteen (15) years of imprisonment.”
Finally, Judge Wesseh noted in his ruling and said: “court says giving the Defendant medication conditions, as contained in the prison’s report, while in detention, and his most recent escaped from the Emirate Hospital in Bopolu while undergoing medical treatment, and to provide the defendant proper medical cares, the Defendant shall serve his imprisonment term either at the National Palace of Correction, Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County or the Monrovia Central Prison, to be determined by the Ministry of Justice.”
Meanwhile, the Clerk of Court was instructed to send a mandate to the authority of the Bopolu Central prison to continue to hold on to Defendant Chennoh Jalloh until his transfer to the National Palace of Correction, Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County or the Monrovia Central Prison.
