The Sixteenth Judicial Circuit in Bopolu City, Gbarpolu County, has brought down Anthony Sumo guilty for human trafficking.
Anthony Sumo was sentenced to six years of imprisonment on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 by Assigned Circuit Court Judge, His Honor Joe S. Barkon.
It can be recalled that in February 2021 Sumo was arrested at the Salayea checkpoint in Bong County while attempting to traffic 22 children from Gbarpolu County.
The trial of Sumo and co-defendant Elizabeth McCree started in November 2021, but McCree was granted bill to travel due to illness. As a result, Sumo was accorded a separate trial, which produced witnesses from the state and defendant.
However, on Thursday, December 9, 2021, Star Insurance Company produced the living body of Elizabeth McCree before the court as it had been mandated by the court.
The court has at the same time scheduled the trial of McCree for January 2022.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce, Labor Minister Cllr. Charles H. Gibson, has welcomed the sentencing of Anthony Sumo for the act of human trafficking, describing it as a major achievement in the fight against human trafficking.
Minister Gibson said that the taskforce is committed to winning all of the on-going trafficking cases currently being heard in Monrovia, Gbarpolu and Grand Gedeh counties and soon to start in Voinjama, Lofa County.