-LNP says probe into his death underway
By Our Staff Writer
The Liberia National Police (LNP) has released more information on the death of Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) official, Matthew J. Innis, saying that it is in possession of his death certificate issued by the ELWA hospital in the suburb of Monrovia.
In a press statement issuedat the weekend, the LNP says it has” launched an investigation into establishing circumstances leading to the death of an employee of the Central Bank of Liberia, in person of Matthew Innis.”
Mr. Innis was Deputy Director of Micro Finance at the CBL. And he reportedly died this week under “mysterious” circumstances, with some family sources telling the local media that they doubted the police initial account that he was involved in a pre-dawn hit and run road accident.
This is one account from family sources given to a leading local daily, FrontpageAfrica on March 3, 2019:
“They said he had left his home on Saturday morning telling his daughter and other family members that he was going to work, which was not a regular Saturday routine for him.
And when they didn’t hear from him for nearly the whole day, they tried to reach him via his mobile phone by 4 pm and couldn’t get him and never heard from him again until they heard that he had been involved in an alleged hit-and-run accident by 2 a.m. Sunday in his neighborhood around the 72nd Junction on the Somalia Drive.
A family member source: “By 2 a.m., we only heard a group of young men banging on our gate saying that the pappy had been hit by a car and his body is on the road. Before we got to the road, his body has been removed. We were told that the police had taken him to Stryker Funeral Home and the police was driving his car.”
Other accounts carried in the media also claimed that Mr. Innis was rushed from the scene of the incident directly to the Samuel Stryker funeral parlours.
But the LNP has disputed the various account and said that was rushed to the ELWA hospital, which later pronounced his death. The death certificate is in the possession of the national police but it can’t be released due to ongoing investigations, according to the statement.
This is the LNP’s account of the incident contained in its March 8, 2019 statement released by Spokesman Moses Carter:
“On March 3, 2019 about 0200hrs, LNP officers at Zone 9 were
informed of an alleged hit and run incident around the 72nd SKD Boulevard
Community.
According to the LNP officers upon arrival on the scene they met Mr. L Henry F.
Davis Sr. and Mr. Eric J. Vah all of whom are neighbors of the deceased and
residents of the 72nd community. The officers said that the victim was seeing
lying helpless near his vehicle.
Both Mr. Davis and Vah along with the two officers immediately
placed the victim into his own vehicle and took him to the nearest clinic
(Peace Home clinic) in 72nd community but were advised to take the victim to
the ELWA hospital.
The victim was rushed to the ELWA Hospital by the two neighbors and the two
Police officers where he (the victim) was later pronounced dead on arrival by
doctors on call. While at the ELWA Hospital, some family representatives in
persons of
1. Oldada Deshield (Brother of the deceased)
2. Esther Innis (Sister of the deceased)
3. Victoria Deshield (Sister in law to the deceased – the wife of Oldada)
4. Abel T. Washington (Community Pastor)
5. Joseph Simoke (Friend of the deceased)
Family arrived at the ELWA hospital and took the body to the Stryker Funeral home accompanied by Officers of the Liberia National Police. The LNP has in its possession a copy of the death certificate from the ELWA Hospital which will not be released now to the public due to the ongoing investigation.”
Meanwhile, the Liberia National Police is urging the public “to desist from making pre-emptive conclusions in ongoing cases which could undermine the outcome of Police investigation.”