Liberia Police Charge Tricycle Rider With Negligent Homicide

MONROVIA — Police have charged a tricycle rider with negligent homicide in the death of a Shoe Factory woman, saying he left her unconscious and bleeding from a head wound near her home after three health facilities declined to admit her. Teddy David was arrested Aug. 3 and charged under Chapter 14, Section 14.3 of the New Penal Law in the death of Grace Tenwah, according to a charge sheet signed by Sgt. George K. Quoi of the Crime Against Person Unit of the Liberia National Police Crime Services Department. The charge is not a conviction, and David is presumed innocent unless a court finds otherwise. The charge sheet says Tenwah went out on the night of July 26 after her friend Princess Tablah called and invited her to an entertainment center near the Johnsonville Turning Point. The two women were together there, and Tenwah had been drinking, police said. When Tablah decided to go home, she asked Tenwah to come with her, and David carried both women in his tricycle to Tablah's house in the Kollie Hill area of Johnsonville. Tenwah stayed in the tricycle to continue on to Shoe Factory. On the way, according to the charge sheet, David told her he was low on fuel and would take Pipeline Road because he thought he could buy gasoline there, having seen no seller along the Johnsonville route. Tenwah asked whether the road led toward Barnesville. David told her he would take her toward Barnesville but needed fuel first. Shortly afterward, police said, she jumped from the moving tricycle. Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines David stopped and found her lying unconscious, bleeding heavily from the back of her head, the charge sheet says. He took her phone and called Tablah, who had rung earlier to check on them, and told her Tenwah had jumped and that the incident had put him in trouble. Tablah told him to take her to a hospital. He said he would. Police said David then carried Tenwah to three health facilities: Maibo Medical Center in Johnsonville, Robert Moore Memorial Healthcare Center in Johnsonville, and Peace Home Medical Center near Neezoe Junction in Paynesville. None admitted her. Each referred her to a larger hospital, among them ELWA Hospital and John F. Kennedy Medical Center. She was still bleeding heavily from the back of her head throughout, police said. Another person who was with David and Tenwah during those attempts asked him what he intended to do next, according to the charge sheet. David said he did not know. The person told him that from watching Tenwah closely, she appeared to be lifeless. Rather than keep seeking emergency care or establish whether she was alive, police said, David turned back toward her community and left her near her residence, unconscious. Police said he never confirmed whether she was dead or alive after telling Tablah what had happened. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy . We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Investigators said physical evidence in the case had been altered by people involved, and that they also relied on eyewitnesses and other witnesses. They concluded the evidence was enough to charge David. The charge documentation contains a discrepancy about David's age. It gives his age as 26 while listing his date of birth as Dec. 5, 1987, which would make him 38 this year. It also puts the time of the incident between about 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on July 27, which does not fit its own account of a sequence that began on the night of July 26. Read the original article on Liberian Investigator . AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorou