COURTEY OF THE ANALYST ( FULL STORY)
Longtime Liberian journalist Gibson Jerue, now resident in the United States of America, left social media in complete shock yesterday Thursday when he accused fellow US-based Liberian, Sylvester J. Wah, of ordering and paying about 15 men to beat his son over woman palaver.
Sylvester Wah lives in Soiux Falls, South Dakota, but is currently in Liberia undertaking some construction projects.
According to Mr. Jerue, the incident which occurred on Monday, May 30, 2022 at 6:00AM erupted when his son and his girlfriend had problem and the girl went to Sylvester Wah’s brother’s place.
“My son (Gibson Jerue, Jr.) and his girlfriend were fussing or fighting during the night of Monday, May 30, 2022. According to eyewitnesses, my son’s girlfriend ran to the house of a guy. My son has previously accused this guy of having affairs with my son’s girlfriend. I don’t know the girlfriend’s name. She has run away and is hiding.
“When my son arrived at the guy’s house in a fence at 6am to tell his girlfriend to come home, the man refused to let the girl out. In an attempt by my son to hold the girl’s hand, the man (I don’t know his name till now) started fighting my son. During the fight, the man took his cutlass/machete to chop my son, but my son grabbed it and instead chopped him.
“According to eyewitnesses, after chopping him, my son left the fence. But while leaving, Sylvester J. Wah mobilized some men, about 15 men, and ordered them to chase and grab my son. My son ran into a house. Sylvester paid the man who lived in the house to turn over my son to them. The man turned my son over to him to be lynched. Eyewitnesses say Sylvester then took a bunch of Liberian Dollars and shared it amongst the mobsters that he assembled.
“Before the lynching, my son’s girlfriend was the one who ran outside when my son chopped the man saying that my son was there to steal two long steel rods. Eyewitnesses quoted her to have said, “Oh my people your come ooo, Baby Gibson (son’s nickname) came to arm rob oooo. He fini chopping somebody oooo”. At that point, upon hearing that my son was an armed robber, and already in the hands of Sylvester and his mobsters, the mob started beating him.
“My son fell unconscious from the beating. Sylvester Wah told the mobsters not to kill him in front of his fence. He told them to take him to the beach to kill him. Upon arriving on the beach, an eyewitness said the owner of the beach told them that they cannot kill my son there. The beach owner then called the police. The police came, took my son to the 14th Military hospital, and left. They did not register the case at the depot in the area.
“While lying unconscious at the hospital, Sylvester sent one of his brothers and some men to the hospital to kill my son. While they were there demanding to enter the hospital, the soldiers refused them entry. So, I called my other son to give the phone to them for me to talk to them. I asked them to be calm. I sent $150 immediately through Send Wave for the person my son wounded to take treatment. They initially accepted the money. But when Sylvester heard it, he told the family members to return the money because he threatened that my son will not live to tell the story. So, I called again to talk to him and his sister. As soon as I started talking, Sylvester started insulting me. When my wife said, “But why are you insulting”, he started insulting my wife, calling her names.
Since Monday when my son was taken to the hospital unconscious, he did not come through until Thursday morning when he passed away,” a frustrated Gibson Jerue lamented.
Audio and text messages exchanges between Messrs Jerue and Wah that are in the possession of this paper show that Sylvester Wah explicitly insulted Gibson Jerue and his spouse following the incident that led to the death of Jerue’s son. Videos of the scene also show that the deceased was severely beaten by a mob, leading to injuries sustained that forced his admission at the 14th Military Hospital along the Roberts International Airport highway.
In an effort to get all sides to the story, The Analyst reached out to the Liberia National Police through its public information section, but Police Spokesman Moses Carter could not avail himself to the numerous queries.
However, the paper was successful in getting to the accused, Sylvester Wah, to balance its reportage, and this is what he had to say:
“Gibson Jerue has a Zoegoe son who lives in the ghetto called Grand Gedeh on Robertsfield Highway. Early Monday morning, his son entered my fence with a cutlass to steal my construction materials and when my security tried to stop him, he chopped my security on his head twice and on his arms multiple times. He was rushed to the 14th military hospital. An angry crowd beat his son and he was also admitted at the same military hospital on Monday.
“My place is located on the highway but I don’t live there because the house is under construction. Jerue paid some police guys and he’s claiming I am the one who told the crowd to beat his zoegoe son. That’s far from the truth.
“This is not his son’s first time chopping people when he goes to rob an area, according to the community. I wasn’t on the spot when his son was beaten. I called the police and waited for them opposite Acarous Gray’s Junction while the chairman and the angry crowd ran with him. I led the police to the angry mob.
“I felt so bad when I got to know the alleged suspect, a zoegoe, was his son. Why would a person be in the USA and refuse to change his son’s life?” Sylvester Wah wondered when he spoke with this paper.
Investigations continue.
