Unknown individuals have, on two occasions, invaded the Virginia home of former Chief Justice, Gloria Musu Scott, in what appears to be an attempt to harm the acclaimed Liberian jurist.
The unidentified persons, on Wednesday night, February 8, broke into Justice Scott’s residence and returned late Thursday night, February 9, in the same fashion that depicts a mission intended to target the life of the renowned Liberian lawyer.
Explaining her ordeal, Cllr. Scott explained that on the night of Wednesday, February 8, while she and other family members were asleep, the unknown individuals passed under the eve of the house and entered in the roof of the kitchen through the ceiling hole/space and came down to the kitchen, but could not breach the steel door to gain access to the living room because the door’s hooks and locks are positioned on the living room side.
She said the men collected from the kitchen table the keys to the main entrance/gate to her property/residence, opened the shop and took only a bag of rice and left.
But before they departed the compound, Cllr. Scott observed that 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, 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 explained further that, to the utmost surprise of the family, the unknown persons returned the next 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.
The “frightened” Cllr. Scott 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 met 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 bracing 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 comes after several cases of high-profile “murders at home”, 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.
She emphasized that her fear is particularly heightened by these high-profile murders and many other mysterious incidents in Monrovia and other parts of Liberia, many of which are yet to be investigated or given any serious attention.
Cllr. Scott currently serves as lawyer in several crucial legal battles, including her role as a senior counsel for the Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence side of the Liberty Party (LP) in their Constitutional conflict with embattled chairman, Musa Hassan Bility and others, a matter that has reached its politically sensitive stage, with muscle flexing and arm twisting intensifying towards the eagerly anticipated 2023 elections.
She emphatically stated that the unknown individuals who invaded her home are not ordinary criminals who are looking for money or material possessions, but rather a well organized and coordinated mission to lay their hands on whatever important documents and eventually harm her.
Cllr. Scott, a former Chief Justice, former senator of Maryland County, and former chair of the erstwhile Constitution Review Committee, said she called authorities of the Zone 6 Police Station in Brewerville, who went to her residence, observed the crime scene and took preliminary notes.
She has however promised to send a formal communication to the Ministry of Justice to officially bring the incidents to the attention of the government.