Monrovia-The Monrovia Metropolis Courtroom Stipendiary Justice of the Peace Ben Barco, has rescinded his earlier ruling that dismissed assault fees in opposition to Miss Liberia 1st Runner-Up, Kindness Wilson, successfully reinstating the case after prosecutors challenged his earlier resolution.
By Willie N. Tokpah
The reversal adopted a movement filed by state prosecutors, led by Cllr. Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor, in search of to overturn the courtroom’s October 27 ruling, which cleared Wilson of straightforward assault and disorderly conduct fees.
Choose Barco in his resolution to rescind famous that the courtroom missed key materials truth which confirmed that the delay was not the fault of the prosecution as earlier dominated.
Beforehand, in his October 27 judgment, Justice of the Peace Barco dismissed the case as a result of the prosecution had triggered “unreasonable and unjustifiable delays” in bringing the matter to a conclusion.
He dominated that the state’s repeated failure to supply its last witness violated Wilson’s constitutional proper to a speedy trial, as assured beneath Rule 9 of the Guidelines Governing Justice of the Peace and Site visitors Courts, which requires the disposition of misdemeanor instances inside 30 days.
“The prosecution’s delay is unreasonable and unjustifiable, given the truth that they management all of the instrumentalities of the state and shouldn’t be giving excuses to delay trial,” Barco stated in his earlier ruling.
Nevertheless, the prosecution countered that the ruling was procedurally flawed and opposite to the proof on file.
Of their movement for aid from judgment, prosecutors argued that the state had “persistently pursued” the case, had requested a number of listening to dates, and was able to current its last witness, a medical physician, on the very day the case was dismissed.
Based on the prosecution, 5 witnesses had already testified, and a number of other items of key proof, together with a video of the alleged assault, an apology video, eyewitness testimonies, and a college disciplinary report, had been admitted or marked for admission.
“The case was by no means deserted and had reached a complicated stage,” the prosecution’s movement acknowledged, describing the dismissal as “legally untenable” and “opposite to the info on file.”
The reinstatement of the case means Wilson will as soon as once more face trial for alleged easy assault and disorderly conduct, fees stemming from an incident that has drawn vital public consideration and debate over the previous months.
Whereas protection counsel had beforehand hailed the October 27 dismissal as a vindication and a reaffirmation of the constitutional proper to a speedy trial, Wednesday’s reversal marks a dramatic twist within the case.
No new trial date has but been introduced.
