Guinean Gets 15 Years Sentence -For Committing Armed Robbery in Gbarpolu County

MONROVIA – A Guinean national of Fula origin, Chernoh Jalloh, has been sentenced to 15 years by the Presiding Judge of the 16^th Judicial Circuit Court, His Honor Wesseh Alphonsus Wesseh, for committing armed robbery. Chernoh Jalloh was sentenced on December 19, 2024 after he pleaded guilty to using a single barrel gun to rob and shoot commercial motorcyclist Benedict Binda who was riding from Gungbeta, Gbarpolu County to Totota, Bong County.

According to the indictment, a copy of which is in the possession of this paper, the armed robbery occurred on Thursday, May 23, 2024 around Stewartville, in Bokumo District, Gbarpolu Count, when Benedict Binda, a commercial motorcyclist, was riding from Gungbeyta to Totota, Bong County, and got stopped defendant Jalloh who asked for the victim to transport his five bags of peppers to Totota, Bong County at the cost of LRD500 per bag.

The indictment indicted that while the Victim was transporting the Defendant to collect the bags of pepper, Chernoh Jalloh jumped from the moving bike, removed a single barrel pistol and fired victim Binda at the back, injuring him in the process.

Following his arrest and arraignment, defendant Jalloh pleaded guilty to the indictment, and thereafter; his guilty plea was accepted and recorded on the minutes of court, after a court’s inquiry was made as to his guilty plea.  

However, the court was left with no option, but accepted Defendant Jalloh’s guilty plea; even though he was indicted for Armed Robbery, which is a capital offense of the felony of the first degree. The court then mandated the Clerk to request the Bopolu Central Prison for a presentence report, which surprisingly indicated that Defendant Jolloh narrowly escaped from the Emirate Hospital in Bopolu while he was undergoing treatment for medical complication, but was rearrested by the joint security of Gbarpolu County following a manhunt.

During his sentence hearing, the court presided over by His Honor Judge Wesseh Alphonsus Wesseh referenced the armed robbery law, specifically Chapter 15, Section 15.32 of the Penal Law of Liberia which indicates that “a person had committed a capital offense of armed robbery, a felony of the first degree if, in the process or course of committing theft, he threatens to kill, kills, or inflicts bodily injury upon a person or group of person, or places such person or group of persons in imminent danger or peril of life under gun point, or by means of explosive, weapon or other lethal devices or instruments”.

Judge Wesseh also indicated during his ruling, as per the criminal indictment formed and brought against Defendant Jalloh, and coupled with  the defendant’s own voluntary confession to the crime of armed robbery;  the defendant’s act is  graded as a very extreme  form of “Armed Robbery statute,  which says, “following a conviction of the crime of armed robbery or high jacking under Sections 14.54 and 15.32 of this Act, the felons shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a period of not less than ten (10) calendar years, nor more than fifteen (15) calendar years where no property damage or personal injury ensues from the acts of the offender or offenders.”;

The Judge continued and stated that the Penal code also specifies that “any person or group of persons who shall be convicted of the capital offenses of armed robbery, highjacking or terrorism, shall be sentenced in the following manner:

“1. Following a conviction of the crime of armed robbery or highjacking under Sections 14.54 and 15.32 of this Act, the felons shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a period of not less than ten (10) calendar years, nor more than fifteen (15) calendar years where no property damage or personal injury ensues from the acts of the offender or offenders;

2. Any person or group of persons convicted of the crime of armed robbery or highjacking under Sections 14.54 and 15.32 of this Act, shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than fifteen (15) calendar years, nor more than twenty (20) calendar years where personal injury is sustained and/or valuables taken away as a result of the act of the felon or felons.”

Judge Wesseh went further to state, “since the indictment alleged that the Defendant shot the Victim with a single barrel shot gun severely wounding him; this court therefore says, given these circumstances and the callous behavior of the Defendant, the crime is an extreme form of armed robbery under the law. Hence, the use of a single barrel shot gun to inflict bodily injuries on an individual, while perpetrating an armed robbery warrants a harsher sentencing”.

According to Judge Wesseh, while the court is determined not to flaw the law during the imposition of a sentence, the Defendant’s guilty plea should have served as a mitigating factor in the imposition of a sentence. However, his prison report speaks to a situation wherein he escaped from the Emirates Hospital, in Bopolu, while he was seeking medication attention for coughing at night and complaining of chest pain and fatigue.

The Counsel for the Prosecution informed the court that the Defendant escaped from the Emirate Hospital in Bopolu, while he was undergoing medical treatments; and that the Victim in the armed robbery case was still undergoing treatment for wounds he suffered during the armed robbery incidence. Prosecution also informed the court that the Defendant is flight risk, especially as he is a foreign national.

In his final ruling, Judge Wesseh charged defendant Chernoh Jalloh guilty of the crime of Armed Robbery to serve a sentence of 15 years of imprisonment.

Judge Wesseh further averred that based on the Defendant’s medical conditions, as contained in the prison’s report, while in detention, and his most recent escape from the Emirate Hospital in Bopolu while undergoing medical treatment; and in order to provide the defendant proper medical care, “the Defendant shall serve his imprisonment term either at the National Palace of Correction, Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County or the Monrovia Central Prison, to be determined by the Ministry of Justice”.

Meanwhile the Clerk of Court was instructed to send a mandate to the authority of the Bopolu Central prison to continue to hold on to Defendant Chennoh Jalloh until his transfer to the National Palace of Correction, Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County or the Monrovia Central Prison in the Liberian capital.