Published: September 28, 2026
MONROVIA – The rape trial of former National Security Agency operative Peter Bon Jallah is on hold after his lawyers asked Criminal Court ‘E’ to acquit him, arguing that what the court found at his home during a crime-scene inspection does not match the account the alleged victim gave the jury.
By Melvin Jackson
Judge Wesseh Aphonsus Wesseh Sr. suspended the trial Monday pending a ruling on the defense motion for judgment of acquittal and ordered prosecutors to file a written resistance by noon Tuesday. Prosecutors had asked for more time, saying the defense raised several issues that required detailed consideration.
The motion was argued on the 42nd day of jury sitting in the August Term of the First Judicial Circuit Criminal Assizes ‘E’. The defense is relying on Sections 2.1 and 20.10 of the Criminal Procedure Law, arguing that Jallah is presumed innocent and that the court may enter a judgment of acquittal where the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.
Jallah is on trial on charges of gang rape and rape.
The alleged victim told the jury that Jallah’s bedroom was large, had a raised bed and had a bathroom inside, according to the defense. When the court, lawyers for both sides and some journalists inspected the residence Sept. 24, the defense said, the bedroom was not large, the bed was not raised and there was no bathroom in the room. A general bathroom was located elsewhere in the house, counsel said.
Defense lawyers said other conditions the alleged victim described at the compound, including the availability of fresh water, were also not observed during the inspection.
The defense also challenged where the alleged offenses took place. According to the court record, the alleged victim testified that Jallah assaulted him twice in Jallah’s bedroom and once in a four-story building on Camp Johnson Road. Defense counsel said the police charge sheet placed one alleged incident in Jallah’s bedroom and another in his daughter’s room, and that the alleged victim later testified he was never assaulted in the daughter’s room. Counsel called that a material variance between the charge sheet and the testimony.
On the Camp Johnson Road allegation, the defense said police took the alleged victim to the area twice and he could not identify the building. The court did not include that location in the Sept. 24 inspection, and the defense has asked that the alleged victim’s earlier description of it be removed from the record.
The defense also attacked the medical evidence. Counsel cited testimony from a nurse who examined the alleged victim at JFK Medical Center, saying the nurse told the jury the findings could have resulted from rape or another form of trauma and that the medical report reached no definitive conclusion that the alleged victim had been raped.
Counsel further argued that DNA analysis a forensic expert from Rwanda conducted on clothing collected from the alleged crime scene did not, by itself, establish penetration.
The prosecution’s written response is due by noon Tuesday. The trial remains suspended until the court rules on the motion.
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