MONROVIA – There was a mournful scene at the residence of renowned jurist Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott when she pulled out her mind on the calamity that befell her and family after an invasion into her residence by unknown persons which claimed the life of her daughter, Charlotte and severe injuries meted on others from the hands of assailants in the evening hours of Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at her Brewerville Residence.
Receiving the Standard Bearer of the Liberian People’s Party (LPP) Cllr. Tiawan S. Gongloe who led other sympathizers from the party, Madam Musu-Scott who was visibly in the mood of bewilderment and state of depression, struggled to gather strength to express herself and when she did, the former Chief Justice of Liberia kept the entire environment charged with sorrow and emotion as she lamented the situation.
“There is one question since last night I have been asking: what have I done? Maybe you all can tell me something for people to be so bold, brazen and fearless.
I am not running for President in 2023. I am not running for Vice President as far as I know; I am not running for the Senate in 2023; I am not running for the House of Representatives in 2023; I am not running to be chairman of any of the political parties; I am not running for any of the positions in the hierarchy of any political parties. So what have I done for this persistence?
“For the status I have as a lawyer, is it not unique to me? The cases I work for are a team of lawyers. So it tells me there is something to this.
“I will want to know what I did. For those of you who care for me, I beg you to ask, maybe you may encounter someone who knows what I did. Ask them what have I done to deserve this.
“This is a young girl in her prime. Yesterday, she brought her documents that she has been cleared for graduation from Starz University. Among her parents’ children and among her siblings she is the first to lose her life like this?
“So Florina, I have called you three times, please find out what have I done”.
As the former Senator of Maryland County was speaking, there were wailing around her from relatives, family members, community dwellers and well-wishers who had turned out from various locations to mourn the untimely death of a promising young lady, whom according to some people who spoke to our correspondent that she did not deserve to just be killed in such a gruesome manner.
Earlier in his condolence message, Cllr. Gongloe said it was unfortunate that an innocent citizen would go down like that and lamented the situation that nothing was done in the first instant when Madam Musu-Scott had raised an alarm when she and her family were attacked in succession.
He chided the government for not being proactive in averting such a loss, stressing that the presence of the police in the compound after the damage was done was belated. “If they have had at least two police officers at your house, nothing would have happened. We just want to say sorry”, he said.
“If people like you cannot be protected, then what is the hope of the ordinary man like some of us who are contesting for the office of the President? That means we are even more vulnerable”, he said.
He further said that the courage and fearlessness in Cllr. Musu-Scott might have not been favorable to some forces in the country and might have used the devilish act to get back to her and pray that God consoles her and bereaved family in their hours of need.
Thursday morning, February 23, 2023, Liberians arose to the news of an armed robbery attack on the residence of former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott in the township of Virginia in district 17 outside Monrovia with Journalists who visited the scene reporting that there was no evidence of burglary at the residence when the stunning incident which occurred at about 10 late Wednesday evening took place.
Our correspondent also reported that the incident left at least one dead and others injured, but noted that the former Chief Justice and former Maryland County Senator abandoned her residence through the window of the bathroom of her bedroom.
Another account says that the former justice minister and former Chairperson of the Liberia Constitutional Review Committee applied pepper spray on an attacker who wanted to stab her, and was able to escape from him unharmed to an unknown location where she was seeking refuge up to press time. .
According to reports, Charlotte Musu, 28 years old niece of Madam Scott, a legal luminary and one time Attorney General of Liberia was murdered in the process of the robbery. Charlotte Musu is reported to be a graduating senior of Starz University.
Besides, another injured in the robbery incident is an 18-year- old 12th grader at the Life International School in Logan Town, another niece of the Cllr. Scott who was critically wounded and lying in a local hospital while Gertrude Newton, believed to be in her early 50s, who is a cousin to the Cllr. Scott was also wounded from the attacks.
Reports indicated that the Liberia National Police are currently investigating two private security guards who were on duty when the incident occurred.
It can be recalled that prior to the Wednesday’s incident, unknown individuals have, on two occasions, invaded the Virginia home of former Chief Justice Scott, in what appears to be an attempt to harm the acclaimed Liberian jurist.
Explaining her ordeal, Cllr. Scott narrated that on the night of Wednesday, February 8, while she and other family members were asleep, the unknown individuals entered the house through the roof of the kitchen and made attempts to enter the living room but were prevented by the hooks and locks placed on the door that leads to the living room.
She said the unknown men were able to take possession of the key to the main entrance to the residence, opened the shop and made away with a bag of rice from the store room.
According to Cllr. Scott, before they departed the compound, the unknown men had taken one of the kitchen knives and a bucket of water and apparently dug a hole somewhere in her compound for whatever purpose to them because the knife was discovered the next morning with soil dirt on both sides.
The visibly shocked female lawyer further said, as a precautionary measure, she bought several pad and cylinder locks on Thursday morning, February 9, and began to install additional protective/steel doors, but the welder could not complete the installation so the keys, locks, light bulbs, along with a juice blender, and other items were left on the dining table and the family went to bed.
Cllr. Scott narrated further that, to the utmost surprise of the family, the unknown persons returned the following night (Thursday, February 9) and entered the house, this time from the top porch upstairs and down to the living room.
She said this time around they succeeded in opening the door between the living room and the main kitchen from the living room side and also opened the door between the main kitchen and the cook pot kitchen at the back of the house.
Cllr. Scott who appeared frightened when she spoke to newsmen, said as part of precautionary measures, she had intentionally disabled the lock and handle of the door leading to her sleeping quarters from the living room side, and so the invaders apparently struggled in vain to break into the sleeping quarters where she and other family members were asleep.
Upon hearing unusual sounds from the living room side, she carefully walked towards the door and saw it slightly opened, an indication that the unidentified persons made failed efforts to open it to gain access to the sleeping quarters.
Cllr. Scott further asserted that apart from the chilling scenes created inside the house, the unknown men whom she described as very brazen and presumably trained to their mission, also disabled the alarm system on her 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.
The attack on Cllr. Scott’s home came after several cases of high-profile murders in some homes which claimed the lives of two former presidents’ sons (John Hilary Tubman, 76, in Fiamah, on September 22, 2021; Rev. William R. Tolbert, III, 68, Bushrod Island, on November 1, 2021; and a senior Immigration officer in Brewerville, on October 31, 2021 amongst others.
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