The Daily IIJ

The Independent  Heritage  Newspaper  in Monrovia has gathered that convicts Hans C. Williams and his fiancée Mardea Paykue will not be hanged to death on March 26, 2010, as ordered by the Judge of Criminal Court “B”, A. Blamo Dixon, Friday, March 19, 2010. According to report, immediately following the ruling Friday, the convicted persons took an appeal to the Supreme Court  of Liberia through their legal counsels. This means that the ruling by Judge Dixon will not be effected until the Supreme Court, which is the final arbiter of justice, listens to the appeal and thereafter makes determination to accept or reject the ruling.

The report added that it will take time for the Supreme Court to listen and subsequently make determination on the appeal. Judge Dixon, on Friday, March 19, 2010, sentenced defendants Hans C. Williams and his fiancée Mardea Paykue to death by hanging.

In his ruling, Judge Dixon ordered the convicted persons to be hanged on Friday, March 26, 2010 at the Monrovia Central Prison. According to him, they are to be hanged from 6 A.M to 6 P.M to ensure that they properly die.

He also ordered the clerk of the court to communicate with the Liberian leader, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf so as to effect the judgment of the court.

He further ordered the clerk of the court to issue a commitment upon conviction for death by hanging and have same placed in the hands of the Sheriff for service on the Superintendent of the Monrovia Central Prison as notification for the order.

Judge Dixon told the jam parked court that as far he was aware and in keeping with the law, prosecution lawyers overwhelmingly established a prima facie case against the defendants to warrant their conviction for the crime of murder as charged in the indictment drawn up by the grand jury beyond every and all reasonable doubts.

“All species of evidence admitted into evidence by the prosecution and testimonies of witnesses for the state are sustained and upheld by the court, unlike those of the defendants,” the Judge of Criminal Court “B” said.      

“The burden of proof rest on the party who alleges a fact except that when the subject matter of a negative averment lies peculiarly within the knowledge of the other party. “

“The averment is taken as true unless disproof by that party. It is sufficient if the party who has the burden of proof established his allegations by a preponderance of the evidence,” Judge Dixon stated.

He named some of the species of evidence admitted into evidence as P/1- In – Bulk up to and including P/9- In – Bulk.

“The best evidence, which the case admits of, must always be produced; that is, no evidence is sufficient which supposes the existence of better evidence”, he added.

Judge Dixon further stated that nobody shall be deprived of life, liberty, security of the person, property, privilege or any other right except as the outcome of a hearing judgment consistent with the provision laid down in the constitution and in accordance with the “Due Process” of law.

He said justice shall be done to all without sale, denial or delay.           

He pointed out that to convict in a criminal case not only should there be a preponderance of evidence, but also the evidence must be so conclusive as to exclude every reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused.

Among other things, Judge Dixon added that the testimonies of co-defendant Hans Williams were inconsistent, contradictory and at variance with that of other defense witnesses who testified in the trial, while co-defendant Mardea Paykue whose testimony should have corroborated with that of Williams, waived her testimony, thus, disenfranchising herself in the case.

It can be recalled that on August 22, 2008, the Grand Jury of Montserrado County indicted Hans C. Williams and Mardea Paykue for the alleged commission of the crime of murder, in contravention of section 14.1 of the New Penal Code of Liberia.

According to the indictment, the convicts did jointly connive and conspire with pre-meditation and malice aforethought intentionally , knowingly, purposely,  wickedly killed and murder  13-year-old  Meideh Angel Togba on November 30,2007, who was their warden, with out any justifiable reason and with extreme indifference to the value of human being.

The indictment also alleged that co-defendant Paykue out of malice aforethought and being of the conviction that co-defendant Williams had sexual intercourse with the decease, thereby prompting her to strangulate and choke her to death.

According to the indictment, after accomplishing her wicked act, they jointly connived, conspired and clandestinely took the lifeless body of the late Togba to the bathroom in their house and tied a cloth/belt around the deceased neck and hanged her lifeless body to the bathroom rod under the pretense that she hanged herself.

After series of legal technicalities, the case finally took off for hearings on Monday, December 14, 2009 at the Criminal Court “B” at the Temple of Justice, sitting in its November Term.

The defendants were represented in court by Cllr. Francis Garlawolo, F. Musa Dean and Pearl Brown Bull, while the state was represented by M. Wilkins Wright, Solicitor General of Liberia, Cllr. Augustine C. Fayiah, Theophilus C. Gould, T. Dempster Brown among others.

During the course of the trial, the state produced nine witnesses while the defense on the other hand produced ten witnesses along with several species of evidence by the two opposing legal teams. 

The trial drew huge local and international attention, owing to the huge media coverage. Human rights organizations, students and other advocacy groups took keen interest in the case from start to end.