Press Statement for immediate release by the Family of the Late Princess Cooper
Distinguish members of the press, citizens, well-meaning Liberians within the Diaspora, our well-wishers, sympathizers as well as family members here present.
We are all aware of the mysterious death of our beloved, Princess Cooper. The lifeless body of the late Princess Cooper was found in the FAWAZ Building Material Store Compound at the ELWA junction on March 24, 2022.
Since the death of our marketable, industrious, and productive daughter, sister, Aunt, and Mother, there have been frantic efforts in the quest to achieve justice ranging from aiding investigators, staging a peaceful march for justice, and contacting independent forensic pathologists out of our borders.
Since said incident, there have been several dissatisfactions, unnecessary missteps, and unjustified denier by the Government of Liberia through the LNP and the Justice Ministry within the investigation proceedings ranging from the below listed;
- That we witnessed and yet to have tangible reasons for which the crime scene was totally exposed and furthermore never protected for a certain period due to the critical occurrence of this Mysterious Death of our beloved Daughter/Sister, bright future Leader, and a national asset.
- That the lack of willingness and acceptance to have brought in all residents within the FAWAZ COMPOUND alongside some nearby residents of the crime scene surroundings as well as eyewitnesses whom we believed could have been strategically questioned thereby using that which would have been gathered from them to be compared with the confirmed visible assessments gathered from the crime scene “that is if there was any proper assessment done at all”.
- That there was also a few individuals captured as persons of interest but amongst those; only certain personalities were exposed to the General Public both via mentioning their names and publishing an in-house investigation video with one of the listed person of interest leaving out an unidentified Lebanese Personality of whom the Public is yet to be informed as to why was he captured and what was gathered during the then investigation with him.
- That the first abrupt Preliminary Report was published by the Liberia National Police (LNP) which then confirmed that there was no foul play but yet without any medical examination which we believed had already undermined the fair play of this entire investigation process.
- That the Family formal complaints directly reported through the Justice Ministry unto the Government of Liberia whereas we confirmed our disapproval for an autopsy to have been conducted by Dr. Benedict Kolee and his team due to qualification concerns which were never adhered to.
- That the Liberia National Police (LNP) has since failed even before or after the Autopsy to have provided a Full-skill or Comprehensive Report from what was gathered from their executed investigation so that one would see if it has any form of collaboration with the agreed Government of Liberia Autopsy Report.
- That the family was and has never been respected regarding communications during this entire process either directly or through our Lawyers.
- That with all the hurdles and resistances visibly notified in getting the Family’s designated Pathologists to land within the Country even after the very same Government of Liberia through H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah’s offer seems to be a tangible contradiction and signals huge fraud as well as uncovered motives.
- That our many efforts made towards this process ranging from formal communications sent to the Ministry of Justice followed by boycotting the autopsy upon our confirmed notification that all of our communications and actions were never recognized by the Justice Ministry and the GOL at large, staging numerous of peaceful protests for justice during which times we were mal-handled, ruthlessly beaten, and incarcerated without charges, successfully contacting pathologists out of the Country which we considered to be independent “. A total of five (5) forensic pathologists” who were resisted without purpose for three weeks; all of which cited insecurity and resistance concerns and then declined the process. With that, we’ve come to the realization that indeed there are difficulties, constraints, and unfairness in trending on the path to justice within our Nation. In contrast, we can now confirm this road to obtaining justice be a rocky path.
Therefore the family has seen this as a fruitless journey.
In view of the few listed above, amongst several others, and in an effort of bringing to closure our grieves, and bereavement and to foster peace of mind, we have therefore requested a formal communication written to the Government of Liberia through the Justice Ministry to take delivery of the body of our beloved Princess for the purpose of giving her a befitting burial.
