Man Kills Step-father, Avenging Mother’s Murder

The Liberia National Police (LNP) in Saclepea are investigating two gruesome murders that took place in the same family, where a stepson mobbed his stepfather to death for killing the boy’s mother the same day.

The LNP told the Daily Observer that on Saturday, October 23, 2021, at about 3 a.m. an elderly man identified as Samuel Bartuah gruesomely killed his wife, Martha Bartuah, while she was still in bed in her room.

According to the Crime Services Department, the late Bartuah and his family lived in an unfinished five-bedroom house, but the man slept in one room, while his wife slept in another room. But at about 3 a.m. on October 23, the man took a cutlass and left his room for his wife’s room, which was on the other side of the house, with a living room between the two, entered the lady's room and murdered her.

The CSD said after he had killed the woman, he set a motorbike ablaze in the hallway, but when the smoke from the fire filled the house, one of his sons, identified as Larry Bartuah, came out of his room to put out the fire without noticing that his mother was dead.

The CSD explained that while Larry was trying to cut off the fire, his father came from a hideout with the same cutlass to kill him, but he blocked the cutlass with his left hand and jumped out of the house yelling. Upon hearing the crying and yelling of Larry Bartuah, the neighbors came out to see what was going on. But because it was still dark and seeing what had happened to Larry, they were also afraid to enter the house.

In the process of finding means to enter the house, one of the neighbors alerted Alphonso Bartuah (the eldest son) about what had happened in the house, and advised him to stay away. Despite the advice, Alphonso decided not to stay away because his mother was also in the house, so he hurriedly came, bypassed the crowd, and entered the house through the window from the back, whereupon entering saw his mother, Martha Bartuah, body lying in a pool of blood.

Alphonso further told the LNP that when he saw his mother lying dead in a pool of blood, he was so agitated, he then began searching for his stepfather and found him in the hallway. Without hesitation, Alphonso took a mortar pestle and beat his stepfather until he died. Police have not established what led to the man killing his wife, but they were able to gather that the late Samuel Bartuah and his son Larry once had an argument or confusion over the motorbike, but the police could not give any details.

This gruesome killing creates concern among the residents of the Peter Town Community in Saclepea with many still confused about what led Samuel Bartuah to kill his wife Martha.