Claim: Mary Giah, who is accused of murdering her three grandchildren, has reportedly escaped through black magic from the police station in Nimba, according to an online blog post.
Verdict: Misleading. The LNP spokesperson said the woman did not go missing from the prison.
Full Text
Social media was flooded days ago with reports that a 61-year-old woman had allegedly killed her three grandchildren.
Fast forward to this, the Liberia National Police issued a statement saying they had arrested the woman and that she was in police custody pending court trial.
Days after the incident, an online blog named Yekeh Kolubah posted that the “Grandmother Mary Giah, who murdered her three grandchildren, has reportedly escaped (disappeared) through black magic from the police station in Nimba.”
As of the time of this publication, the post gained over 2.1k reactions, 100 shares, and over 500 comments, many of which commended the woman for escaping.
A few minutes after that post, the same blog made another post with a video, which has an unclear sound with a caption suggesting that the police contacted a juju man who helped to rearrest the suspect and put her back in jail.
The video got over 39.6K views, 929 reactions, 204 comments, and 97 shares as of the time of this report. To promote truth in the information ecosystem, DUBAWA verified the blog’s post. There were two issues in contention.
First, the researcher sought to determine whether the suspect truly vanished from prison custody; second, she sought to determine whether the suspect had been rearrested.
Verification
DUBAWA contacted the spokesperson of the Liberia National Police (LNP) to ascertain if the woman had escaped from the prison.
In response, Sam Collins said, “No, no, no. She did not disappear. It is untrue.”
When asked if the police did use black powers to rearrest her, Collins laughed and asked, the woman did not escape. How will we rearrest her?
“It is not in our line of work to use juju power,” adding, “the police did not use black powers.”
He also shared a video with DUBAWA, similar to the one Yekeh Kolubah posted, and said it was proof that she is still in police custody.
In the seven-minute video, the recorder is clearly heard saying,
“Here is the woman. She has not disappeared yet. If she will, then I don’t think it will be in police custody.”
Conclusion
Yekeh Kolubah’s post that the woman who is accused of killing her three grandchildren disappeared from prison is misleading.