24/09/2025
Africa News / HeartTalk
News Release for immediate release
By: T. Thelma Sayweh
Sept 24, 2025
The fourteenth judicial Circuit court, River Cess county, has begun the trial of a 43-years old man indicated for unlicensed possession of controlled drugs or substances in violation of chapter 14, subsection 14.89(2b) of the penal law of Liberia.
According to court's record agents of the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) arrested defendant Ayouba Sheriff on August 21,2025 at the ITI checkpoint in yarnee District, River Cess county, with a consignment of ma*****na valued at two hundred forty thousand (240,000.00) Liberian Dollars.
The trial of the case followed the denial by the Resident Circuit Judge D. Onesimus Banwon, of a Defense's Motion seeking to suppress and exclude the evidence obtained by the LDEA at the time of Ayouba Sheriff arrest.
In it's Motion, the Defense alleged that the consignment of Drugs was illegally seized from Sheriff garage without a search and seizure warrant , and that Sheriff was also denied legal representation during police preliminary investigation.
But, in denying Defense's Motion, Judge Banwon ruled that the defense failed to prove that the consignment of ma*****na was actually seized from Sheriff garage without a search and seizure warrant and not at the ITI checkpoint as alleged in the indictment.
On the issue of the alleged denial of legal representation of sheriff during police preliminary investigation, the court also ruled that it is a common practice in criminal prosecution in Liberia, in the absence of legal representation during police preliminary investigation, for an accused person to be acquainted with his or her Miranda or constitutional rights by the investigator. Where such accused person voluntarily and without coercion chooses, as in the instant case, to waive person was denied legal representation.
-30-
