By Prince Ukonjay Wonplu, pwonplu@gmail.com
The Liberia national police are considering “manslaughter” charge for the two Liberians who were found dead in a Philippino ship in the Port City of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. The two Liberians died under questionable circumstances in the Filipino ship, the M/V Vega Granat.
Our Grand Bassa Correspondent reports that the Senior Legal Counsel of the Ministry of Justice on assignment in Buchanan, Cllr. Samuel Jacobs, made the disclosure in a press briefing at his office in Buchanan. Cllr. Jacobs was one time Montserrado County Attorney.
According to Cllr. Jacobs a Pathologist from Sierra Leone has arrived in Liberia and is carrying on the Autopsy on the two bodies at the Saint Moses Funeral Home in Monrovia.
Cllr. Jacobs said from investigation, the two victims, Emmanuel Smith and George Freeman, entered the hatch not knowing that it was allegedly sprayed with chemical.
Cllr. Jacobs said the men suffered suffocation from the chemical and were rushed to the Liberian Government Hospital in Buchanan, where they were later pronounced dead.
Cllr. Samuel Jacobs stated that under the law the owner of the ship will take responsibility of the two victims, something he described as “Respondeat Superior” or “vicarious respondeat” (a Latin phrase that means the person with authority and supervisory role takes responsibility.)
He further explained that two persons each from the victims’ families, a team from the Ministry of Justice and the ship’s lawyer, Austin Taylor, are present for the autopsy.
Cllr. Jacobs is calling on family members of the deceased to remain calm as they await the autopsy report.
