*Photo of Keith Jubah

*Jubah’s alleged murderers

By: Our Staff Writer

Nine persons have been formally indicted by the Grand Jury for Montserrado County in the ongoing murder case of Keith Jubah.

Jubah, the former boss of the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) was murdered in front of his residence along the Kakata-Monrovia Highway in November of 2009, after which his body was set ablaze immediately by his killers along with his vehicle. His murderers, however, made away with no valuables; neither did they enter his house.

According to the Grand Jury, defendants Tommy Cooper; Caesar Kolako; Joseph Kerkula; Andrew Pewee; Joe Harris; Zinnah Padmore; Joseph O. Kollie; James Langia and Singbeh Padmore committed the crimes of criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and murder, which are first and second degree felonies.

Count One of the indictment states that over a protracted period of time, all defendants, at the time employees of the Morris-American Rubber Company (MARCO) in Todee District, Lower Montserrado County, had harbored malice, great distaste and hatred for the Managing Director of the farm, Keith Jubah, over the alleged manner in which he foresaw and ran the day-to-day operations of the farm, and therefore with criminal minds, purposely, knowingly, willfully, and intentionally, connived, conspired to wickedly , without any legal right, and without fear for the Laws of the Republic of Liberia, eliminate him from the face of the earth by shooting, killing, and subsequently setting his body and his pick-up ablaze.

Their indictment comes after police revealed that they retrieved three single barrel shot guns, one with serial number 351890; model number 402, the second with serial number 271220 and the third serial number is not visible due to the effect of rust. Other items retrieved included two empty shells of single barrel shot gun, one red long sleeve jacket, one long black jean trousers, photographs of crime scene, four pellets of single barrel gun shots from the body of the deceased during an autopsy examination at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Memorial Hospital in Sinkor, six pellets recovered from the crime scene and one pair of rain-boots and eight live rounds of single barrel gun.

The indictment says the defendants said that the victim never cared about their welfare. The defendants armed themselves with three single-barrel guns, one with serial number 351890, and model number 402 and a packet of single-barrel gun which contained 25 rounds of ammunition, they carried machetes (cutlasses), and a container of four gallons of flammable chemical substance believed to be gasoline during the evening hours of Saturday, October 31, 2009. Following their concocted criminal conspiratorial plan to murder Jubah, the defendants acquired the above instruments of death, went to the home of the deceased on October 31, 2009 but observed that deceased was in bed, thereby temporarily aborting their evil action.

At about 20:00 hours, according to the indictment, the deceased drove home in his white Four-Wheel double cabin vehicle and parked it at the front of his residence, and as he disembarked and was about to enter his home, he came under fire with pellets from two shot guns that were fired by the defendants, hitting him in the shoulder blade to the thoracic and lungs.

“When he collapsed to the ground the perpetrators ran closer to the victim, used machetes and lacerated the top and left his of his head (scalp) and lower right jaw, subsequently poured four gallons of flammable substance (gasoline), both on the deceased’s body and his gray Toyota Forerunner van bearing license plate number BC-3717 and purposely set them ablaze by apparently striking safety matches by laying ambush near the victim’s residence in a dilapidated structure”, the indictment stated.