Liberia: “Release Coroner’s Examination Report”

The family of the late Charloe Musu has decried the government's refusal to release the coroner's examination report on the remains of their daughter, the late Charloe Musu.

In a release issued Sunday, April 2, 2023, the family said that in the wake of strange discoveries made on the body of their daughter during the recent autopsy, they are suspicious of the government's refusal to release the Coroner's report or share a copy with them since February 27, 2023.

They said that on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, based on their request, which was granted by the Ministry of Justice with a prohibition on photographing, the Musu family viewed the front part of the body of the late Charloe Musu at the St. Moses Funeral Parlor along with members of the press/media and civil society before the conduct of the autopsy, but the pathologist refused to allow them to view the back side of the body.

However, during the conduct of the autopsy, the pathologist turned the body around, at which time it was discovered that her underpants (backings) were removed and part of her hair was extracted from her head, amid the political conspiracy theory by the ruling CDC that Scott used her daughter for ritual purposes.

These discoveries were made after the pathologist, Dr. Kolee, said that the report of the autopsy would have been released in two weeks plus or minus, because of the toxicology examination, which would be done by a reference lab out of Liberia, and that the autopsy conducted by him is scientific and the result would be the same even if done by other practitioners (pathologists) subsequently.

The family wondered why the government has been hiding the Coroner's examination report for more than a month since the examination (February 27, 2023), but immediately following the conduct of the autopsy on Tuesday, March 21, the police released a preliminary report of the autopsy in which they said that the cause of death was “severe bleeding or loss of blood as a result of multiple stabbing.

The refusal by the government to release the Coroner's report, or share a copy with the family, leaves enough grounds to believe that the physical examination conducted by the Coroner of Montserrado County on the body did not find the extraction of her hair or other strange things the family noticed during the conduct of the autopsy.

The Musu Family also repeated their earlier alarm that on Wednesday March 22, 2023, the Police, through the Family Lawyers, requested the appearance of five (5) family members including Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson (AC), Godson Y. Kollie and the biological parents of the late Charloe Musu, Magistrate Alphonso C. Musu, Sr. and Lucy Musu, father and mother, for questioning, but upon arrival at the LNP Headquarters, police investigators, surprisingly had a separate meeting with the father and mother of the late Charloe Musu in which they denied the plawyers presence on grounds that they (parents) were not subjected to investigation but rather Police authorities wanted to express empathy/sympathy with them.

However, shockingly, during the said meeting behind closed doors, police authorities indulged in manipulating and inciting the father and mother against the family by, among other things, asking whether the both of them had been to the house where the incident occurred to see that the house is very protected and there is no evidence of anybody entering or leaving the house that fateful night.

According to the family, the police investigators told the late Charloe's parents to go and ask Cllr. Scott to tell them the truth about how their daughter died.

The investigators also showed the father photos from a smart phone of one of the senior police officers, at which time the father said he saw the late Charloe Musu lying on the floor in a pool of blood. 

The family added that the police authorities promised to provide transportation to take the father and mother to the crime scene to see how secure the house is so that they too could believe that there was no strange entry or exit.

According to the family, it's a mystery how the police could have a photo of the late Charloe Musu lying on the floor of the house in a pool of blood when there was no police presence during the incident and up to the time, she was taken out of the house to the Faith Clinic and then the Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town.

This, they said, leaves them to also wonder whether the police had somebody on the scene during the attack or if the attacker/murderer had taken a photograph of the late Charloe and sent it to the police.

"In the mind and contemplation of the family, the police, by these actions and statements, which are preemptive and conclusive, have the propensity to undermine and alter the actual result of the investigation and continue to reveal a trend of a conspiracy theory intended to make the victims perpetrators of the crime, which clearly gives us, the Musu Family, the impression that this investigation will have a concocted and already crafted political outcome."

 The family maintained that they are disappointed and still crave the involvement of international partners (the international community) to assist with an independent investigation into this matter to ensure that due process of law is attained in this murder and assault.