By: E. Geedahgar Garsuah
MONROVIA: The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, has raised alarm that her Virginia residence has been invaded twice in a period of one week by some unidentified persons.
The situation, the former Chief Justice said, has effectively injected high sense of fear and insecurity in her and other family members.
According to Cllr. Musu-Scott, the first attack by the unknown persons against her residence in Virginia, outside Monrovia, occurred on Wednesday, February 8, 2023.
She added that the following Thursday, February 9, 2023, the attackers again, stormed her residence.
Narrating her ordeal to this paper on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, the former Chief Justice disclosed that besides the terrifying moves made by the unnamed invaders, she believes that those involved are well trained and appear knowledgeable to accomplish their mission.
“Apart from the chilling scenes created inside the house, the unknown men disabled the alarm system on my vehicle, opened it, lifted all the seats, and left files and documents in the car scattered after apparently reading through them, in an effort to find whatever they were searching for,” Cllr. Musu-Scott indicated.
Besides serving as Liberia’s Chief Justice during the administration of former President Charles Taylor from 1997 to 2003, Justice Scott held several other high profile positions in government.
She once served as Senator of Maryland County, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Republic of Liberia, Chairperson, Constitution Review Commission, among others.
Currently, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the lead lawyer of the opposition Liberty Party (LP), of which Grand Bassa County Senator, Nynoblee Karnga-Lawrence, serves as political leader.
Detailing her ordeal to this paper, Cllr. Musu-Scott disclosed that she is of the strongest conviction that the unknown individuals who perpetrated said attack on her home are “hardened criminals.”
According to her, the format applied by the “invaders” to gain unlawful access to her residence, depicts a mission intended to target her precious life.
Justice Scott said that on the night of Wednesday, February 8, 2023, while she and other family members were asleep, the unknown persons broke into her residence, through the roof of the house and gained undue access to the kitchen.
She added that the unknown but “hardened criminals” entered the kitchen but they could not breach the steel door, separating the living-room from the dinning-room to gain total access to the house.
According to her, upon their failure to break the steel door, they took a bunch of keys including her shop-key and made away with a single 25kilogram bag of rice from her provision shop.
Cllr. Musu-Scott disclosed further that as a precautionary measure against the Wednesday, February 8, 2023 incident, on the morning of Thursday, February 9, 2023, she purchased several cylinders and pad locks and began installation of additional steel door to ensure the invaders do not gain access whenever they attempt to do so.
But, the female barrister who is also a Professor of Law at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, who was visibly frightened indicated that, to her utmost surprise, the unidentified invaders finally made a successful entrance to her living room through the top porch from the upstairs of her residence on the night of Thursday, February 9, 2023.
She has expressed fear for her life owing to the manner in which the invasion of her residence occurred.
Justice Musu-Scott said her fear has been reinforced by the numerous unsolved but high profile murders in the country in recent years.
She vowed to submit a formal complaint to the Government of Liberia (GoL) through the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as a way of bringing the government’s attention to the scary matter.
The attack against the former Chief Justice’s residence comes on the heels of several high profile and mysterious murders that occurred in the country in recent years.
They include, but not limited to, the mysterious killing of John Hilary Tubman, 76, son of former Liberian President, William V. S. Tubman (late), at his Fiamah residence on September 22, 2021, and the killing of Rev. William R. Tolbert, III, 68, Liberia’s Peace Ambassador, at his Bushrod Island residence on November 1, 2021.
According to the learned female Liberian lawyer, she fears over the successive invasions of her residence.
“My fear is particularly heightened by these high-profiled murders and many other mysterious incidents that occurred in Monrovia and other parts of Liberia, many of which are yet to be properly investigated or given any serious attention,” Cllr. Musu-Scott declared.
