MONROVIA – After months of legal wrangling and procedural delays, the Monrovia City Court on Monday admitted into evidence a widely circulated video that shows Miss Liberia First Runner-Up, Kindness Wilson, slapping fellow student Jumel Cox, a development that significantly boosts the prosecution’s case.
The under-30-second video, which made the rounds on social media earlier this year, was played three times in court before a packed audience. The clip was presented using a USB drive brought in by a subpoenaed witness, the same individual who originally recorded the footage.
The court’s decision to accept the video into evidence follows a prolonged legal back-and-forth. Initially, Magistrate Ben L. Barco had ruled against its admission due to lack of authentication. That stance was later overturned by Criminal Court ‘A’ Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie, who ruled that the footage could be accepted only if the original recorder appeared in person within two days to authenticate it.
Though the defense challenged that ruling by petitioning Supreme Court Justice-in-Chambers Ceaineh D. Clinton-Johnson, their request was denied. The Supreme Court sided with Judge Willie, clearing the path for the lower court to proceed.
On Monday, the witness, the original videographer, took the stand under oath, confirming that she filmed the encounter on March 31 at Stella Maris Polytechnic University. The video was then formally entered into evidence. Defense lawyers raised fresh objections, questioning the witness’s qualification and contesting the video’s use, but those challenges were dismissed by the court, which said the issues had already been settled at the Circuit Court level.
Legal observers say the video, when considered alongside a previously admitted school investigative report and Wilson’s own admission to slapping Cox, leaves the defense on shaky ground.
Earlier attempts to introduce the same video had been blocked when shown through a different witness. At that time, the court agreed with the defense that only the person who recorded the video could properly authenticate it, a legal technicality that derailed the prosecution’s efforts until now.
With Monday’s testimony, however, the authentication hurdle was cleared, satisfying conditions under Liberia’s 2016 Evidence Law, which requires audiovisual material to be verified by its source.
Defense attorney Atty. Jeremiah Dougbeh was overheard outside court saying he intended to “take it upstairs,” suggesting another round of legal challenges could be heading to a higher court.
Adding to the courtroom drama was the conspicuous absence of defendant Kindness Wilson. Her legal team had earlier sought permission for her to miss the hearing, citing professional obligations in Nairobi. But prosecutors dropped a surprise in court, revealing she had actually traveled to Doha, Qatar, a revelation that did not sit well with the magistrate.
The presiding judge issued a stern warning, noting that if it is confirmed Wilson is in Doha, she could be held in contempt. He further ordered that if she does not return to court before the end of the month, contempt proceedings would go forward.
The case stems from a March incident on the Stella Maris campus, where Wilson allegedly slapped Cox following a heated dispute. The altercation reportedly erupted after Cox criticized Wilson’s performance at the Miss Global Beauty Pageant, where she had earlier faced public backlash for mistakenly singing the wrong national anthem.
Wilson later claimed Cox had bullied her, a claim that remains a point of contention in court.
More recently, Wilson again drew criticism when, during Liberia’s Independence Day festivities, she publicly stated that the country gained its independence in 1947 instead of 1847, another misstep that fueled questions about her public poise and understanding of national history.
The assault case is being prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with private counsel Cllr. Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor, who declined to speak to the press, stating only that “the court records are public and speak for themselves.”
Source: The Liberian Investigator
