Journalist Jarkloh Charged With Rape, But Says He's Innocent


Journalist Bill Jarkloh has been held for allegedly raping and subsequently sodomizing an eight-year old girl, Love Samuels, but the journalists says he is innocent. The Fiancee of the journalists was aleso accused of kidnapping Love little Love Samuels, but police investigating exonerated both Journalists Jarkloh and his fiancee, human rights personnel Korpo S. Kortimai from the rape and kidnap charges.



Police instead said Love Samuels' parents have always abandoned her in the streets leaving her vulnerable, and added that it was Ms. Kortimai, the assistant coordinator of ZODWOCA Inc, a local women and children rights and empoweerment NGO, who reported Love to police and requested that the Child be rehabilitated.

Love also told Police investigators that she was abused by one Lincoln in a video club while under the cover of darkness,meaning that she was raped by Lincoln and not Journalist Bill Jarkloh as alleged by a one Janjay, sauid to be the mother of Love.

Mr. Jarkloh said the allegation by Janjay against him was masterminded by one Sorbor George working with the STAR Radio and was made manifest to bear on him by the Chief Justice of Liberia, His Honor Johnny Lewis. The Journaslist said he was misrepresented by Sorbor George to Chief Justice Lewis through the Chief Justice's driver who was seen in George's residence on the morning Journalist Jarkloh and his fiancee were arrested for the charges against them.

Accordingly, Chief Justice Lewis unethically came down from the top floor of the Temple of Justice Building which contains his office and the Supreme Court to the Monrovia City Court on the ground floor of the building and instructed the Magistrate, Moses Wondah M. Sondah and the City Solicitor Sam Theo Solomon to issue a writ of arrest against Journalist Jarkloh in the absence of a police charge sheet, saying that the police is corrupt.

The Chief Justice also called at the Magistrate's chamber, the Montserrado County Attorney Samuel Jacobs and Assistant County Attorney Witness Doyen not to interfere with the matter. "You see, I can walked into the offices of the Minister of Justrice unlike you. If you interfere with this matter against him, I will not like it," the Chief Justice warned the two prosecutors. he said it was his expectation that the Solicitor Sam T. Solomon single-handedly prosecute Journalist Jarkloh.

Journalist Jarkloh, a one-time winner of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Feature Writer Award, was then detained at the Monrovia Central Prison was for three weeks three-days until state prosecutors, through the intervention of the journalist's legal counsel, Human Rights Lawyer, Cllr. T. Dempster Browne, filed a nolle prosequoi thereby droping charges against the journalist for lack of evidence
He is presently a consultant at the Vision Newspaper and the Communication Officer at the Ghanaian Embassy in Monrovia.

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Liberia: Journalist Bill Jarkloh Speaks From Prison
The Inquirer (Monrovia)
Posted to the web 28 May 2008

Journalist Bill Jarkloh who was recently accused and charged with rape and sodomy has denied his involvement in the act and termed the allegation as false, with the intent to tarnish his good reputation he has built over the years.

The accused journalist, who was reacting from the prison on Tuesday, explained that he is innocent and that he was humiliated by a conspiracy masterminded and championed by another journalist, Sorbor George, who reports for Star Radio in Monrovia.

When contacted via phone on Tuesday, Mr. Sorbor George said he does not wish to dignify such an allegation, which he termed as "trash."

The accused journalist, in his communication, alleged that the conspiracy was also being conducted against him through the Chief Justice of Liberia and Magistrate Moses Wondah M. Sondah of the Monrovia City Court, in collaboration with Sam T. Solomon, City Solicitor at the City Court.

"I'm appealing to the Press Union of Liberia to kindly press for a speedy and fair trial. If I committed a crime, I should be fairly prosecuted and not to be kept in detention for a protracted period without justice being done. Let me have my days in court and face justice. I'm hungry for justice; I am demanding a speedy trial," Bill stated with frustration. Meanwhile, the accused who appeared for the first time in court yesterday has been granted a motion for preliminary hearings on Friday.

The lawyers of the accused request stemmed from information from the Monrovia City Court that there was no police charge sheet to have him indicted from the onset therefore the preliminary hearings will afford the accused the opportunity to explain in court whether he actually perpetrated the act or not.
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Liberia: Ghanaian Embassy On Journalist Jarkloh Arrest
The Inquirer (Monrovia) 22 May 2008
Posted to the web 22 May 2008
By: Patrick K. Wrokpoh

The Ghanaian Embassy near Monrovia has for the first time spoken on the arrest and subsequent detention of its Public Relations Officer, Bill Jarkloh, who has been accused of rape.

The Ambassador of Ghana, Francis Adu- Amanfoh said the Embassy is not intervening in the matter and is allowing the laws of Liberia to take its course.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday when he was asked about the issue in Grand Cape Mount County, where he had traveled with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to participate in a three- day cabinet retreat, the Ghanaian Ambassador said it is the understanding of the Embassy that criminal investigation is being carried out in the matter and results of his understanding over the matter suggest that the allegation against the Embassy's Public Relations Officer is untrue.

"If the allegation is not true, I am expecting that the laws of the land should take its course," he said. He added that if the allegation is not true, the accused journalist should be given his right.

Asked whether in the wake of the latest accusation he can guarantee the accused job with the Embassy, Ambassador Amanfoh said: "As long as no court of law has found him guilty of any offense, he has a job. I do not have any problem with that at all."
Late last month, reports surfaced in Monrovia that journalist Bill Jarkloh, a one- time winner of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Feature Writer Award, was accused of raping and sodomizing an eight-year old girl on Perry Street, where he also resides. The journalist has since denied the claim.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Amanfoh has admonished Ghanaians living in Liberia to regularize at all times their immigration status by registering with the Liberian immigration authority.

He said things have changed over the years and it is now a matter of must that people from elsewhere who want to live in another country to respect and follow the immigration laws, something which he noted his Embassy has embarked upon a campaign to Ghanaians wanting to stay in Liberia.