By Emmanuel Mafelah,mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
Gbarnga, Liberia- “We can tell you with great degree of certainty that we now know who killed the late Sata Binda and for what reason she was killed,” says a press statement from the Bong County Attorney, lawyer Jonathan Flomo.
Satta Banda, age 17, a resident of Gbarnga in Electoral District #5 was late last year found dead in a pool of blood, after it was reported that she was with her friend attending a wake-keeping event in the community.
In a press statement read to Journalist in Gbarnga, central Liberia on Monday, Lawyer Flomo said:
“The DNA result proved that Person of Interest (POI), now Defendant Amos Molon was the only person submitted that can be included as a possible contributor to any of the evidence profiles. The other individuals are either excluded, have limited support for exclusion (which is still support to exclude) or uninformative (meaning an opinion cannot be provided based on statistics to either include or exclude).”
The office of the Bong County Attorney through the Liberian Ministry of Justice some time agao contacted the US Federal Bureau of Investigation pathologists relating to conduct a DNA forensic investigation into the death of the late Satta Banda..
Bong County Attorney Flomo had insisted on a DNA forensic investigation because he said “our first impression upon visiting the crime scene and reviewing police investigation in the crime was that the crime was a crime of passion as opposed to a politically motivated crime as was been rumored and subsequently asserted by many persons.”
Meanwhile, defendant Amos Malo has now admitted to killing Siata.
BELOW IS FULL TEXT OF COUNTY ATTORNEY FLOMO’S PRESS RELEASE ON THE OUTCOME OF THE DNA FORENSIC INVESTIGATION:
August 19, 2019
Press Briefing (DNA Result)0
Members of the press, civil society and other human rights organizations, we’ve called you here to brief you on the developments in the Sata Binda Case.
As you are aware, Sata Binda was found dead on September 16, 2018. Police investigation revealed that she was raped, strangled and murdered.
Our first impression upon visiting the crime scene and reviewing police investigation in the crime was that the crime was a crime of passion as opposed to a politically motivated crime as was been rumored and subsequently asserted by many persons.
Based on police investigation two persons were linked to the crime and were charged and indicted for murder and criminal conspiracy. One of those charged, in person of Josephine Sulonteh made two recorded statements which-in our view-contradicted materially as to the inclusions of those she claimed she saw committing the crime and then summersaulting to exclude one of those she earlier named in the first recording who happens to be Clarence Davis Jr.
It became apparent to us that it would be difficult-if not impossible-to win a very important case like this based on a single eyewitness statement that had such material difference. Remember that Josephine had earlier made another statement to the police when the crime was committed that was also completely different from the two contradicting recordings.
As we always maintained, cases are won based on evidence that are weighty, material and cogent. The State must also be able to corroborate its evidence by consistency in the statements been provided by a particular witness or witnesses. Cases are not won on emotions, conjectures and assumptions. Weak evidence means weak case and a high likelihood of losing. Even if the State’s evidence is circumstantial, those circumstantial evidence must be so strong as to convince any reasonable jury conclusively to the fact that a crime was committed and that the accused is connected with the crime.
Realizing the weakness in our case, and not willing to take chances with this case, we decided to endeavor in gathering evidence as to who committed the crime in a more scientific way so that our probability of ensuring that justice is delivered is high.
We’re indeed happy to let you know our efforts have now paid off and we can tell you with great degree of certainty that we now know who killed the late Sata Binda and for what reason she was killed.
We’re very much thankful to the FBI Forensic Laboratory in Quintico Virginia for assisting us in this case. Without their intervention we are certain that justice would not have been done in this case.
The DNA result proved that Person of Interest (POI), now Defendant Amos Molon was the only person submitted that can be included as a possible contributor to any of the evidence profiles. The other individuals are either excluded, have limited support for exclusion (which is still support to exclude) or uninformative (meaning an opinion cannot be provided based on statistics to either include or exclude).
Defendant Amos Molon was confronted with the DNA results and in the presence of his lawyer he voluntarily admitted to the crime. We will now proceed to have him indicted for the crimes of Rape and Murder and we can assure you that the State will ask for the harshest possible punishment the law provides for these crimes.
We are very pleased with how we proceeded in this case and we hope that these developments will now help the bereaved family to start to heal from the devastation caused by the untimely death of their beloved and that eventually they will find closure to this tragic period in their family’s history.
We also like to inform you that upon the determination that has now been made in this case, there is no further need to hold defeendnats Josephine Sulonteh and Clarence Davis Jr. in custody thus we will make appropriate request to the court to have them released.
We like to thank the Liberian National Police Detachment for Bong County headed by Chief Inspector Federick Nepay for job well done. We also thank the leadership of Civil Society Organizations of Bong County for being so supportive and understanding the difficult nature of this case.
Thank you