The presiding Judge of Criminal Court “B”, Nelson Chinneh, has acquitted Lucas Richards, an American Missionary who was accused of attempting to kill his Liberian wife, Jessica Lloyd. Judge Chinneh handed the not-guilty verdict on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 due to the lack of sufficient evidence to convict the accused.
However, the victim, Jessica Lloyd, has expressed dismay over the court’s verdict, claiming that Richards had previously offered her US$10,000 to drop the case against him but she turned it down because she wanted the law to take its course for what he did.
It can be recalled that Lucas Richards was arrested sometime ago by officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) on allegation of criminal attempt to commit murder and aggravated assault.
The LNP stated that on Thursday, September 14, 2023 at about 3:00 p.m., it was alleged that suspect Richards drove the victim, Jessica Lloyd, around Dixville, Caldwell, where he attacked and injured her, leaving her with lacerations on her neck, the back of her head and fingers.
Victim Lloyd was taken to the John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital to undergo treatment, while suspect Richards was detained at the LNP headquarters. Later they were forwarded to court.
At court and in self-testimony, the victim recalled how the accused allegedly slit her through and nearly took her life.
In a testamentary video recording after regaining consciousness, the victim, Jessica Lloyd, explained [edited], “At first, he [Lucas Richards] wanted to throw me in the water. But when we went there, the ‘gronna’ boys were around. You know, when the children see ‘white man’ they can want money. So he said he missed the road. The children directed him…He couldn’t do anything because the children were still behind us.”
Lloyd explained that, before they got down from the car Richards took a knife, claiming that he is afraid of snakes, just in case they came across one. “We went down to the river side, but he couldn’t do anything because the people were plenty around there. So we went to a bush area, and he said he wanted to pee. We used the narrow pathway inside the bush [inside Bardnersville]. I told him I will hold the water bottle and wait for him. While peeing, he said he saw some kind of animal in the bush and that the eyes were shining. He told me to come and see. All along he had the knife with him. For fear of the animal, I stood behind him.
“After peeing, I handed him water to wash his hands. He asked for sanitizer, but I insisted on him using the water. We walked a little while, and he said he wanted to pee again. He told me to stand behind him to block him from the little children who were passing. So I stood up right behind him, but not too close. After he got through, we searched for the direction of the car, got in it and went to the road that leads to Duala. We passed by all the quiet places, so I told him that we should find a place to sit and talk, then we can go.”
Further explaining, she said, “While driving, we passed by a cemetery, and he said we should enter it and take a look, but I refused. So we passed by the cemetery and got around a bushy place, where he parked and said the tire had problem. But it’s like [a] boy was watching us. So he got down to change the tire. I was sitting in the car at first, but he requested my help. He had an iron that he was turning, with another long iron in the other hand. He told me to help him turn the iron until he could finish with the other side.
“I wasn’t thinking on anything, so I was turning the iron. While turning it, he said, ‘Oh dirt is in your hair.’ So he opened up my hair—I felt like he was cleaning the dirt—and hit it with the iron. I heard ‘boom!’ I felt it was the car’s tire that bust, or maybe the thing I was turning had current in it and that was what jerked me. I fell on the ground and started jerking. But then I woke up, but he pushed me back to the ground. But it’s like the boy saw him hitting my neck.
“When he pushed me back, it’s like that was the time he started cutting my neck, but I was not feeling anything. I previously took some medication he gave me in the car.
“I was pregnant for about two months, at which time he gave me an injection in my vein to stop the vomiting, malaria and fever, but the pregnancy damaged. So I was taking infection medicine to clear my system. My stomach was hurting in the car, and that was when he gave me that medicine to take. He told me the medicine will help, and it won’t make me to sleep. So I took it.”
According to her, “When I lay on the ground, he came over me—thinking that he wanted to help me—but I told him I was alright even though I was still jerking. He pushed me back to the ground, rolled me over, and that was the time he was chopping my neck.
“So the boy who saw him picked up stick and rushed on the scene with yelling. That’s how he didn’t go deep on my neck; he just left me. But I don’t know how all the cuttings took place on my hands and feet.”
But Richards pleaded not guilty to the allegations and charges, and his lawyers rejected a jury trial.
After listening to arguments from prosecution and defendant lawyers, and reviewing all the pieces of evidence submitted, Judge Nelson Chinneh has rendered a not-guilty judgment, thereby setting Richards a free man.
According to Judge Chinneh’s verdict, after a thorough examination of the evidence presented in court, there was not enough substantial proof to convict Richards.