Monrovia- July 16, 2022: The Judge of Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Peter W. Gbeneweleh has sent to prison a town Chief, Folley Kollie age 35 in Bomi County for murdering a man named Joe Jenekai.

According to Judge Gbeneweleh town Chief Folley Kollie must be detained in a common jail in Bomi County or any suitable prison facility in the Republic of Liberia.

During the trial, court records established that town Chief Kollie did order one Junior Varney and others to escort the deceased, Joe Jenekai, out of Maher Zobandy, a town in which the deceased had a girlfriend he had gone to visit.

The trial jury in the matter said that all references showed that victim Joe Jenekai always went to Maher Zobandy to visit his girlfriend and cross the nearby river safely except on that fateful day when town Chief Kollie ordered the escort of deceased Jenekai.

The court established that upon town Chief Kollie order from that day, Joe Jenekai went missing and was subsequently found lifeless and floating on the river.

Judge Gbeneweleh in his ruling acknowledged that murder is a felony of the first degree under Liberia’s jurisprudence, but mentioned that the convict could not face the death penalty because of Liberia’s agreement with other international protocols that forbid the death penalty.

Section 14.1 of the New Penal Code of Liberia states:” Murder is a felony of the first degree but a person convicted of murder may be sentenced to death or life imprisonment as provided in sections 50.5 and 51.3.”

Accordingly, section 50.5 refers to a sentence to death or imprisonment as “ a person who has been convicted of a felony may be sentenced as follows: a. for a felony of the first degree to death or life imprisonment where some penalty is specified by statute, or where not specified, to an indefinite term of imprisonment to be placed by the court, maximum of which shall be ten (10) years.”

The Judge emphasized that the court takes judicial notice that the Republic of Liberia signed an international protocol to abolish death penalty, and that this current administration presented a Bill before the Legislature to rectify said international protocol for the abolition of death penalty in Liberia.

“Wherefore and in view of the foregoing, it is the ruling of this Honorable Court that defendant Follie Kollie is hereby sentenced to 35 years if imprisonment for the death of Joe Jenekai. The Clerk of this court is hereby ordered to prepare a commitment and place same in the hands of the Sheriff to have the defendant detained in a common jail of Bomi
County or any suitable prison facility in this Republic as of the date of this ruling,” Judge Gbeneweleh ordered.