Monrovia – A 36-year-old teacher, Grace Wah, is crying out for justice after she was allegedly injured by a senior Protocol Officer to President George Manneh Weah, Cleopatra Cummings.
Miss Wah said on February 24, 2022, she was gashed by Cummings with razor blades after brief arguments, but since she registered the case at the Zone 4 police depot in Gardnersville and, subsequently the magisterial court, the case is stalled, while the alleged perpetrator is walking a free person and boasting that nothing would come out of it.
She said the wounds inflicted on her face and beneath her eye resulted into 14 stiches, and has been asked by nurses to seek treatment at an advanced hospital.
“I received 14 stiches on my face and beneath my eye. The cuts were deep. And now my head and eyes are hurting. My eyes are sometimes dim, and this is because I lost too much blood. That’s why the nurses at the PHP Clinic have advised me to seek advanced treatment at a hospital.”
When contacted, Madam Cummings told FrontPage Africa that she has opted not to speak about the incident since the case was in court.
“Under our law, when a case is in court, it is not wise for parties involved to speak outside of the legal process. I appreciate you for reaching out to me but I have decided not to speak while the case is in court,” she said.
What Transpired?
According to Madam Wah, an argument ensued between both of them after she (Wah) dumped a truck load of sand near Cummings’ property for her construction work. Wah said when Cummings saw the pile of sand, she asked her to remove it because it was blocking her way, but she (Wah) refused and told her that it was outside of her premises. As she turned her back to Cummings in the midst of the arguments, she said Cummings held her by the hair and slashed her with the blade.
“She really planned to harm me. Because when I turned my back to her, she held my hair and started to cut me with the blades,” Wah lamented.
Speaking further, she said Cummings, who is a longtime neighbor, is in the constant habit of intimidating her and other neighbors because of her position in government.
She said: “Cleo always picks at us and boasts that she can do anything to us and nothing will happen. Even after she hurt me, the police did not arrest her. When I inquired, I was told that she was released to take treatment because I hurt her also, which is a lie. My family saw her sitting at her entertainment center with the police. That’s how she behaves to us.”
She continued: “What I want is justice. Let Cleopatra be made to understand that she is not above the law despite working with the President. She should respect us and treat us as human beings.”
Meanwhile, FrontPageAfrica has gathered that Madam Cummings has a history of physically attacking her neighbors. In October 2015, while also serving as a senior protocol officer to former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, she was involved in a brutal fistfight with a community woman identified as Mafata Dukuly. The fighting led to severe physical bodily injuries on Mafata, which her husband, Yayah Y. Dukuly, a former NPA worker under the late Chairman Gyudi Bryant, described as unaccepted and a breach of the laws of Liberia.
“This woman has been terrorizing us in this community. Everyone complains about her. She jumped over her fence and ran over 100 feet to attack my wife in my yard and caused her these injuries,” Mr. Dukuly, also a former executive mansion photographer during the regime of late president Samuel K. Doe, told reporters at the time of the incident.
A neighbor in an apartment separating Cleopatra from the Dukulys confirmed the incident as well. “I did everything I could to stop her but no success. I saw her jump over her fence, sweating and adamant to fight. Look at her barefoot marks here in the sand. Her own mother came struggling to stop her but she insisted to fight the woman who was busy washing her dirty clothes. All I did was just sit down there and cry. She could kill her. The woman was not prepared. She was bending down washing – not even looking. She brought her house maids to join the fight and they joined,” she said.
The latest incident comes in the wake of a report of another senior government official, Isaac Doe, who serves as the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, allegedly brutalized a woman identified as Britina Johnson. A video circulating on social media shows Johnson, with bruises all over her body wailing in pain as people believed to be eyewitnesses can be heard consoling her and condemning Doe’s alleged actions.
Doe has since denied the allegations. It is reported that Miss Johnson’s father, an Episcopalian Priest, has withdrawn his daughter’s complaint for fears that his daughter may be harmed if she pursues the case as he is based in Maryland County.