Liberian United Nations trained pathologist Dr. Benedict Kolee says the court was misled in the murder case of the late Charloe Musu that led to its acquittal of former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott and three other family members convicted for the commission of the crime, as no male DNA was found in the home of Cllr. Scott by both Defense and Persecution pathologists.
Dr. Kolee made the disclosure when he recently reacted to the Thursday, September 5, 2024, edition of the Daily Observer Newspaper publication under the captioned “Pathologist Kolee Misled Judge, Jury; Supreme Court says in Charloe Musu Murder case.”
The newspaper paper quoted Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Youh as rendering judgment that pathologist Kolee misled the court concerning the autopsy conducted on the deceased when he served as a defense witness in the case, something which provided a non-guilty verdict rendered in the case against former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott and her three other family members. The Daily Observer quoted the Chief Justice Youh as saying “Dr. Kolee misled Judge Roosevelt Willie and jury of Criminal Court ‘A’ while testifying during the trial as state witness that the DNA samples collected in the home of the former Chief Justice (the crime scene and the victim) were all female samples without male sample.”
But in a statement, Dr. Kolee stated that though he does not intend to pass further opinion on a case in which the Supreme Court has rendered judgement, he emphatically stands by his testimony made in court during the trial that the victim Charloe was stabbed to death.
“I STAND BY ALL STATEMENTS MADE IN COURT during the hearing of the said case. I wish to state in clear and unequivocal terms that NO wrongs were done my me and my team in the said case; the wrong doers in this case are those who maliciously stabbed Charloe Musu at least nine times leading to her eventual murder.”
He maintained that “it will make more sense for the Judiciary to focus its attention and resources on finding the murderers of Charloe Musu, a human being who has rights like any Liberian under our Law.”
Dr. Kolee noted that continuing the trial of this case in a ‘court of public opinion’ as evidenced by the ongoing media campaign which seeks to implicate innocent individuals like him amounts to a disservice that he doesn’t deserve given his enormous unpaid-for contributions to the criminal justice system of Liberia.
He said on the fateful Wednesday night of February 22, 2023, three security guards were watching the heavily fortified home of the former Chief Justice of Liberia Gloria Musu Scott when one of the guards alarmed that the little girl (Charloe) has been crying in the house for the past few hours, his colleagues responded by saying that the girl was ‘hard-headed, and “maybe the Oldma was disciplining her.
Dr. Kolee recalled that the said security walked from the Palava hut where they were sitting to the window of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott’s house and found Gertrude Newton (one of the former convicts) standing at the window.
“At that point Gertrude alarmed that an attacker was in the house. It was later uncovered that Charloe half dead body was lying in the bathroom of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott. Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott said in a police interview that she saw, and pepper sprayed the attacker but when the first responders came into the house, no attacker was found,” Kolee said.
He said an immediate investigation was launched but was derailed for almost three weeks after Cllr. Jeorme Verdier gave a vivid but misleading description of the alleged killers, as the lead from the learned counsellor was not of help, but he (Verdier) succeeded in distracting investigators for almost three weeks, saying, “Those baseless pronouncements also impacted public opinion and had a negative impact on the investigation.”
Dr. Kolee pointed out that when former Chief Justice Scott was later called in for questioning, she came in with her lawyers and provided statements.
Kolee: “Our team was then asked to perform an autopsy on the remains of Charloe Musu with the goal of providing the scientific cause of death. Around same time, Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott made a formal request to the Ministry of Justice for the family to be allowed to view the remains of Charloe Musu before the autopsy could be conducted. This request was granted but I insisted that this could only be done in my presence and the presence of law enforcement officers since the remains was crucial evidence.”
The Liberian pathologist said that Cllr. Scott arrived at the viewing with phone camera and note pads and did recording of the injuries on deceased, but her request to view the back of the deceased was not granted.
“Our autopsy report was condemned by the legal team of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott and there were speculations that a second autopsy would have been done. Even in the face of a roaming second autopsy, there were multiple requests from Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott to have the remains of Charloe Musu given to the family for burial, a move that I opposed because it amounted to destroying evidence since the case was still in court,” he stated.
Dr. Kolee further recalled that even in the face of his opposition to the request, permission was granted to Cllr. Augustine Fayiah (current Solicitor General) to received and bury Charloe Musu while the family was in jail. Fortunately, the burial didn’t take place before the second autopsy.
“Had this happened, it would have been an exact replica of the case of Angel Topka in which the same Nigerian Pathologist (Mathias Okoye) performed an autopsy on the skeletal remains of Angel Tokpa and ruled that no injuries were found leading to the acquittal of two convicted murders (Hans Capehart Williams and his fiancée Madia Paykue); the two were facing a death sentence. Hans and his fiancée fled to the US directly from court, I don’t have any evidence of them ever returning to Liberia since then,” he said.
Dr. Kolee emphasized that a second autopsy was requested for by former Justice Scott’s legal team, the Pathologist who performed that autopsy was (same Nigerian Pathologist) was hired by the legal team of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott. The said pathologist was responsible to the defense team not the state.
He clarified that Dr. Mathias Okoye was not an independent Pathologist as being perceived in the public because, he was hired by former Justice Scott. According to him, pathologist Okoye showed up at the St. Moses Funeral home with his wife, daughter and one retired policeman who was said to be the forensic investigator.
He disclosed that the administration of St. Moses Funeral home was not informed about the pending second autopsy, at which time he called the Justice Ministry to do the letter of authorization to Dr. Okoye.
“I then informed Dr. Okoye (in the presence of Cllr. Augustine Fayiah and other members of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott legal team) that he needed to have asked the funeral home to remove the remains of Charloe Musu from the freezer for defrosting at least 12hrs before autopsy. I expressed doubt that he could not possibly do an autopsy on frozen remains. He responded that it was possible, and he just needed a green light.”
Dr. Kolee pointed out that he then went into the back funeral home where the freezers are located, with one Wollor, a mortician at St. Moses, to view the body.
“To my utmost surprise, the FREEZER CONTAINING THE REMAINS OF CHARLOE MUSU HAS BEEN NOT FOR WEEKS and Charloe remains were already decaying! I called Moses (owner of St. Moses funeral home) and reported the event to him, he was equally shocked. At the autopsy, Dr. Okoye however praised the level of preservation of the body (in contrast to the feeling I had); he said repeatedly that “the freezer is excellent; I can’t imagine how the body is still so preserved. Whether this was a power failure or sabotage is anybody’s guess.”
Dr. Kolee pointed out that pathologist Okoye also visited the home of former Justice Gloria Musu Scott and took samples from the home and from the body of Charloe for DNA testing.
“His test didn’t reveal any male DNA in the home of Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott (crime scene) contrary to statements ascribed to the Honourable Supreme Court by the Daily Observer (See attached excerpts from Okoye autopsy report). All samples collected from the remains of Charloe showed the presence of female DNA. There were NO male autosomal markers (24 markers that are usually used in conventional DNA testing).”
He added that pathologist Okoye only claimed to have used Y-STR, markers, which is used mainly for sex offenses, genealogy testing, paternity testing and seldom for violent crimes like the gruesome murder of Charloe.
According to him, the Nigerian pathologist further stated in his testimony before court that the murderer of Charloe is “consistent to be a male, and muscular than the defendants and none of the defendants would individually cause this wound on the victim because the victim is young, 29yrs, was 5ft 4in tall with an estimated weight of 190 pounds.” These findings cannot be made by an objective Pathologist.
“But Dr. Okoye knows well that he was misleading the court. For example, in the United States, 34 yr old Jarmecca Yvonne Whitehead was successfully stabbed to death (like Charloe) by her twins/girls Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah who were only 16 years old! They later pleaded guilty and were both sentenced to 30yrs in prison (Twins Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah Whitehead confess to killing mother | 11alive.com.) How a defence pathologist with a history of predatory interventions in our criminal justice system was allowed to be a custodian of evidence is anybody’s guess.”
Dr. Kolee further recalled that at the end the trial, the Jury voted overwhelmingly in favour of a guilty verdict for former Justice Gloria Musu Scott and co-defendants and they were later sentenced and jailed.
“On June 17, 2024, Frontpage Africa reported that Compassionate Leave was granted to the then murder convict, Former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott. Two months later, the Supreme Court of Liberia acquitted Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott and three Co-defendants ending a landmark case in our judiciary history.”
Dr. Kolee, however, claimed that despite the acquittal verdict by the apex court, multiple attempts are being made to find a “scapegoat” for acquitting the former convicts.
“As if this was not bad enough, there have been attempts to find a scapegoat and continue this controversial case in the court of public opinion. I don’t deserve to be used as a scapegoat in this case. I am a renowned Medical Doctor trained to save lives. I further take this time to challenge the courts to use the alleged DNA evidence or any other evidence to quickly bring the murder(s) of our dear Charloe Musu to Justice. The release of the former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott and three former murder convicts from prison cannot be the end of this case, Charloe deserves justice!”
