Liberia: US$5k Reward for Tip on Former Chief Justice's Attackers

….. The reward is announced as the police struggle to arrest the armed robber who attacked Scott who is also a former Senator of Maryland County. 

The Ministry of Justice has issued a US$5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the assailants responsible for the brutal murder of the niece of former Chief Justice, Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott's during an attack at her house.

The reward is announced as the police struggle to arrest the armed robbers who attacked Scott who is also a former Senator of Maryland County. 

The police have already called in three private security guards assigned to the home of Scott along with four other females for questioning but the victim's family has debunked the police's belief that the attackers would have been domestic workers.

“The Ministry of Justice is announcing a ransom of $5,000 for anyone who has any useful information available that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators,”  Police Spokesman Moses Carter said.

ALSO READ: Family of Former Chief Justice blames Government for fatal attack on her home 

According to Carter, the government would protect anyone who is willing to provide concrete leads on the attacks.

Scott's home came under attack last week by  unknown armed person(s) who allegedly stabbed her niece to death and took away her phone and laptop.

This was the third attack in less than two weeks. The first and second did not result in injuries, but the third was violent, forcing Scott to flee the night of the event.

Scott's assailants broke into her home on the night of February 8, and returned the next day but were unable to crack the steel door after penetrating via the kitchen ceiling.

But on February 22,  they succeed, forcing the former Chief Justice to run for her life as her niece was laying in cold blood after being stabbed with a knife multiple times.

“[The attackers] searched every document they could lay their hands on, giving us reason to believe that the attacks that resulted in the death of a promising young woman were also meant to recover some documents they perceive or believe Cllr. Scott had it in her possession,” the former Chief Justice's family said in a statement on Sunday.

"They also disabled some systems in the former Chief Justice’s car, which from all indications appeared to have been another means of carrying out their criminal plan,” the family said while wondering where the police might have gotten its clues about domestic workers being responsible for the attacks.”

Meanwhile, the police have disclosed that some people are undergoing questioning and are being treated as persons of interest. These individuals, according to the police, were in the home of Scott when the incident occurred. 

"We subjected individuals to questioning and these individuals are currently being treated as persons of interest,” the police spokesman said. “We have subjected the three security guys who were on duty on the night of the incident to questioning, and they are currently in our custody while we go through the process of questioning.”

"The preliminary findings are that five females were in the home of the former chief justice during the incident; these five females, one now deceased and the other four others that are left will be subjected to questioning with the intent of establishing facts and the circumstances surrounding the death of the Liberian citizens.”

Carter noted that he hoped that those being questioned including the former Chief Justice will accrue the investigators the due diligence to provide the necessary information in connection to the perpetrators.

Scott's family has however debunked the police believe that the attackers might have been a domestic worker in Scott’s compound. 

The issue of the domestic workers, the family noted, therefore clearly suggests to “us that the police knew the facts and circumstances even before beginning any form of the investigation.” 

The family clarified that when the two previous attacks took place, there were no contractors in the yard and the attackers did not take any valuables.