Gloria Maya Musu-Scott, Liberia’s former justice minister and chief justice, has been cleared of her niece’s murder by the Supreme Court of the country.
Along with three female relatives, she had been given a life sentence for the brutal killing of 29-year-old Charlotte Musu in February 2023 in a case that gripped the country as Ms Musu-Scott was a prominent figure in Liberia, known for her work in the judiciary and her involvement in politics. She had previously won a significant case against the electoral commission while representing the then-opposition party’s legal team.
After serving for over eight months, a joyful crowd welcomed their release.
Following their release, Ms Musu-Scott expressed her happiness at being free but also voiced her concerns about the state of the justice system.
She highlighted that there are many innocent individuals incarcerated in the republic and emphasised that more work needs to be done while thanking the legal team.
Ms. Musu-Scott served as Liberia’s justice minister and later as the chief justice of the Supreme Court until her retirement in 2003. She then transitioned to politics and served as a lawmaker in Maryland County until 2012.
Ms Musu-Scott remained a member of the Unity Party and participated in the legal team that successfully contested the electoral commission’s decision to withhold access to the voters’ roll.
Ms Musu-Scott and her three relatives were previously found guilty by a lower court in December on charges of stabbing her niece, conspiracy and making a false report to the police. They were sentenced to life in January. However, the former chief justice denied the charges, claiming that her niece had been killed by an “assassin” who had entered her home in Monrovia.
In the appeal verdict delivered by Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, it was ruled that there was insufficient evidence linking the former judge and her relatives to the crime. The top court stated that the evidence presented by the state prosecutors did not establish the specific individual responsible for the murder.
According to local media, state prosecutors had previously acknowledged that the conviction was based on circumstantial evidence.