The Monrovia City Court Judge has handed down its much-anticipated ruling adjudging that the Government of Liberia established a prima facie case against former Speaker Fonati Koffa and other lawmakers who are accused of burning the Capitol Building.
Magistrate L. Ben Barco of the Monrovia City Court in his ruling on Friday, June 13, 2025, said the sole issue for the determination of the case is whether or not Prosecution did establish a prima facie case, such that Defendants can be held to further answer to the crimes as charged.
Before answering the legal question, the magistrate looked at the applicable laws instructive on the matter and the facts.
According to the magistrate, Section 12.2 of the Criminal Procedure Law provides that “The accused shall be afforded a preliminary examination after his/her first appearance before the magistrate or justice of the peace. If the magistrate or justice of the peace determines that a prima facie case has been established against the accused, the magistrate or justice of the peace… shall hold him/her to answer.”
He opined that a “Prima facie case is evidence sufficient to establish the fact unless rebutted.” That presupposes that all Prosecution needs to establish is that a crime was committed, and that it is likely that the accused might have committed the crime.
The magistrate stated that the standard in establishing a prima facie case is not proof beyond reasonable doubt but a determination as to the existence of a probable cause-that is, a reasonable ground to suspect that a person has committed a crime.
Magistrate Barco said the allegations in this complaint are that the defendants through telephone conversations and other means, criminally connived, conspired, sponsored and purchased explosives, including gasoline used to set ablaze the Joint Chambers of the Capitol Building, housing the Liberian Legislature on December 17. 2024; thereby causing damages to the said Joint Chambers at the cost of over (1.8 million United States Dollars).
The complaint further alleged that previous to the December 17 incident and in the aftermath of a riot, Defendants brutally attacked or caused to be attacked a police officer and left him unconscious; whereas, they confiscated his gun and converted same into their personal use.
Magistrate Barco asserted that State witnesses were corroborative in the description of the events leading up to the burning of the Capitol, such that they also described the roles each of the defendants played in the conspiracy.
Defendant Dixon Seboe is particularly named as the person who cooked the conspiracy, to the
effect that he recruited and manipulated persons to burn the Joint Chambers of the Capitol Building, and thereafter facilitated their escape.
Whereas Defendant Abu Kamara, as one of the financers of the plot is also accused of having recruited people he referred to as actors to help in the burning of the Capitol.
The Magistrate stated that Prosecution witnesses narrated the role of Defendant J. Fonati Koffa as one of the financiers behind the plot. They also accused Koffa of being aware of the burning of the Capitol even before the incident as he was part of a chartroom where the plot was hatched.
For Defendant Jacob Debbie, he is said to have been aware of the plot by listening to a conversation regarding same; but took no action either before or after the incident to inform law enforcement authority, which inaction defines his complicity.
“These narratives are sufficient grounds to establish probable cause,” Magistrate L. Ben Barco of the Monrovia City Court noted.
He maintained; “therefore, it is the holding of this Court that prosecution has established a prima facie case, such that Defendants can be held to further answer to the crimes as charged.”
Meanwhile, the magistrate ordered that the Clerk of Court is to transmit the records of this case along with the defendants to Criminal Court “A” consistent with law and practice in vogue.
During the court’s final ruling, two of the defendants to include former Speaker Koffa and Representative Seboe were absent from the court.
The magistrate demanded that the two defendants be present for the handling down of the ruling but all efforts by their lawyers to get them in the court proves fruitless.
The defendants were charged with Arson, Criminal Mischief Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Solicitation, Criminal Attempt to Commit Murder, Illegal Possession of Firearm and Theft of Property, and will remain under the jurisdiction of the said Court until duly discharged, and if convicted of said charges, will surrender themselves unto the custody of the sheriff of said court to undergo the full sentence of the law.
On Monday, June 9, 2025, Defendants Dixon W. Seboe, Abu B. Kamara, J. Fonati Koffa and Jacob Debe were set free on a US$ 440,000.00 property bond after the court accepted and approved the property bond proffered by the defendants.
Madam Jonda Janet Koffa & Marjan Mona Koffa are the owners of the properties amounting to US$440, 000 (four hundred forty thousand United States Dollars) offered as Security for said Criminal Appearance Bond that released the defendants from jail.
The property bond by the defendants was received by Daniel Y. McGill, Clerk of Court on
Monday, June 9, 2025at 11:05 AM and approved by Stipendiary Magistrate Barco.
Several high-profile politicians to include, Senator Nathaniel McGill, Representatives Musa Hassan Bility, Frank Saah Foko, Mulbah Morlu and Yekeh Kolubah, were all at the Monrovia City Court to secure the release of the defendants.