The NEWS (Monrovia)
Alloycious David
7 May 2008
Monrovia — The House of Representatives Tuesday passed into law an Act seeking to make Armed Robbery, Terrorism and Hijacking non-bailable crimes and punishable by death.
Prior to the passage of the Act sponsored by Representative Edward Forh, and co-sponsored by Representatives Rufus Neufville of Monrtserrado County and Elijah Seah of River Gee County, some lawmakers argued that there are laws already on the books making armed robbery a non-bailable offence, and as such, there was no need to come out with a new law.
The lawmakers said it is important to ensure that laws on armed robbery be enforced to curtail the commission of the crime, which has resulted in several deaths and the loss of properties.
Some lawmakers blamed the Judiciary Committee for its failure to research as to whether there exists a law on armed robbery, terrorism and hijacking before passing a new law.
Section 14.54, 15.32 and 15.33 of the proposed Act provides that individuals convicted of terrorist act, armed robbery and hijacking will be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than 15 years with possibility of parole after 8 years or after serving three quarter of the sentence in the case of higher sentence.
The Act also provides for a longer penalty on peculiar facts and circumstances of case, and where there is no death, rape, property damage or personal injury as a result of any of the offenders.
The drafters of the Act also recommended that anyone who is convicted of armed robbery; terrorism and hijacking shall be sentenced to life imprisonment with possibility of parole at the age of 90 years.
According to the Act, in the event of death during the commission of armed robbery, terrorism and hijacking, the accused convicted under section 14.54 and 15.32 and 15.33 shall be sentenced to death by hanging in public place designated by trial court or life imprisonment without parole.
Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
BRAVO! Ramsey, Beautifully Written in my view. If I am not mistaken, it was Ellen, that said "GO AND SIN NO MORE" AFTER THE NOT GUILTY VERDICT OF JULU AND DORBOR. DR.PELLAR
The activities of daily living in Liberia in term of social, economic and political interplay just seem to be survival for the fittest style of living in the jungle. Liberia should not be a place where people will sit on beer tables and make law in their own ways of thinking. We need thinkers, visionaries and people who reflect or retrospect before speaking out. I admonish all Liberians in positions at this time to be very mindful of how to conduct themselves in regards to their various divisions of labor. We are at a crossroad in the history of our… [Read Full Text]