SUP Affiliate Charged, Sent To Court For Violence
The Liberia National Police have charged and sent Darius Toweh to court for Rioting, Failure to disperse, Recklessly endangering another person and Criminal solicitation.
The charges comes after a writ of habeas corpus was issued on the minister of Justice and police inspector general on Friday August 12, by Judge Blamo Dixon of criminal court C, based on a complaint filed by SUP through their lawyer, Cllr Finley Karngar who maintained that they had kept defendant Toweh for more than 48 hours without charging or releasing him in accordance to Article 21.f of the constitution.
It can be recalled that Darius S. Toweh was arrested by members of the Liberia National Police following his involvement in the disturbance and throwing of stones at the African Methodist Episcopal University on August 10, 2022 that left one person wounded and school facilities destroyed.
According to police charge sheet, on August 10, while students were carrying on several activities including, graduating senior Students who were defending their Thesis, on the campus of the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) the defendant went insinuating that students were at risk due to administration failure to prevent Abdurrahman Barry from defending his thesis.
Barry was among those arrested by the Liberia National Police for participating in the July 26 violence. He and some members were subsequently charged for criminal contempt to commit murder, aggravated assault among other felonies. He, being the senior Class president at that time, was also suspended.
Police investigation however revealed that defendant Toweh, who is 2020 graduate of the AMEU-University heard that Barry had gone to defend his thesis on the campus thus he went requesting the school administration not to allow Abdurrahman Barry to be on the school campus because he is a member of the CDC-COP; a group that was involved in the July 26 Violence that took place near the US embassy in Monrovia.
Defendant Toweh, who is not currently a student of the school, engaged several people at the campus urging them not to allow Barry defend his thesis. After his encounter with four individuals at the school premises, Toweh entered the library where he believed he would see is target but at the time of his entry, he met other seniors defending but didn’t get hold of Barry, who at the time had left the library.
The investigation further revealed that Defendant Toweh, Alvin Koffa and Lebron Kaba including others to be identified later threw stones at both the graduate and undergraduate building thereby damaging a light bulb installed on the concrete fence of the graduate school. While in the process, according to investigation, a student from the economic department James K. Yillah got wounded on his left hand
During the investigation, it was established that defendant Toweh is an affiliate of the Student Unification Party while his accomplices are members of SUP, the group who had gone to petition the government of Liberia, when they were attacked by the CDC-COP.
The defendant is said to be in violation of chapter 17, 14, 15 and 10 section 17.1, 14.20, 14.23, 15.5, 17.3 and 10.3 of the revised penal law of the Republic of Liberia thus was charged with the commission of the crime “Rioting, Failure to disperse, Recklessly endangering another person, criminal Mischief, aggravated Assault, disorderly Conduct and criminal Conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the defendant has been released on bond signed by his lawyer, Cllr. Finley Karngar.
By: Rachael Saykiemien
