A key prosecution witness in the capitol building arson cases has returned to the court admitting that crucial WhatsApp messages, allegedly linking the defendants, had mysteriously disappeared due to a default timer setting on a mobile device.
Testifying at the Monrovia City Court, police witness Peter Johnson told the court he had played two alleged recordings from defendant Thomas Etheridge’s phone. However, when asked to read WhatsApp messages supposedly implicating Etheridge and co-defendant Eric Susay, Johnson admitted they were gone.
Yes, gone. Just like that.
Etheridge and Susay are facing an extensive list of charges, including arson, release of destructive forces, reckless burning or exploding, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, attempted murder, theft of property, and aggravated assault. The Liberia National Police believe they were the masterminds behind the attack that engulfed the Capitol Building in flames.
But here’s where things get murky.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Cllr. Wilkins Wright pressed Johnson on how these crucial messages could have disappeared when the phone had been in police custody since December 18, 2024. If the default timer was set for 24 hours, how could the police have lost evidence that was supposedly key to their case?
Johnson’s response? “Anyone with an internet-enabled phone knows there is a default timer program that allows users to set messages to disappear within a certain time limit. That’s what happened here. However, we printed hard copies of the conversations from the phone, which we have submitted to the court.”
Printed copies?
Cllr. Wright wasted no time objecting, arguing that these weren’t the best form of evidence. The actual phone—where the alleged messages were exchanged—should have been presented, not printed text that could have been altered or taken out of context.
The prosecution pushed back, citing Section 25.6 of the Civil Procedure Law, which permits copies of documents as evidence if the originals are lost, destroyed, or unavailable. But Wright wasn’t buying it, insisting that the best available evidence must be presented.
And then came another embarrassing moment for the prosecution.
When ordered to replay the alleged recordings, they struggled to unlock the phone. Yes, the very phone that supposedly held critical evidence against the defendants. They eventually had to call a technician from the National Security Agency (NSA) to assist—contradicting their earlier claim that the expert was from the Liberia National Police.
If nothing else, this case is exposing a series of inconsistencies that raise serious questions about the handling of evidence.
With Johnson wrapping up his testimony on January 31, 2025, the prosecution has now rested its case after presenting both oral and documentary evidence. Final arguments are set for February 6, and at this point, the only certainty in this trial is uncertainty.
Will justice be served, or will unanswered questions and missing messages define the fate of this high-profile case?
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