New twist to Capitol Building arson saga 

Supreme Court Justice in Chamber, Associate Justice Jamesetta H. Wolokolie has placed an immediate stay order on the high-profile Capitol building arson case involving former House Speaker, Cllr: Jonathan Fonati Koffa, colleagues, and several others. 

By Lincoln G. Peters

The stay order follows a petition from lawyers seeking a writ of certiorari, a day after presiding Criminal Court ‘A” Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie denied the defense request to suppress evidence submitted by the prosecution in the proceedings. 

“By directive of Her Honor Jamesetta H. Wolokolie, Associate Justice presiding in Chambers, you are hereby cited to a conference with Her Honor on Thursday, October 2, 2025, at the hour of 3:00 p.m., in connection with the above captioned case. Meanwhile, you are ordered to stay with all further proceedings and/or actions in the matter pending the outcome of the conference. Kind regards. Very truly yours, Cllr. Sam Mamalu, CLERK, SUPREME COURT,” the writer concluded. 

The writ of Certiorari, which is a Latin word meaning “to be made certain,” is a discretionary writ from a higher court ordering a lower court to deliver its case records for review. It is the primary means by which a party can petition the Higher Court to review a judge’s ruling. In this case, the defense lawyers are seeking review of Judge Willie’s ruling in the motion to suppress the prosecution’s evidence.

On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, Judge Willie stated that, despite a medical report confirming the defendants’ claim of torture in the ongoing Capitol building arson trial, it was not sufficient ground to grant the defendants’ request to suppress evidence in the trial.

Judge Willie’s comments are contained in his ruling on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, following the presentation of the defendants’ medical report as requested by defense lawyers.

The judge argued that the inherent limitations and constraints of available diagnostic modalities within the present setting also contribute to the fact that the medical report has some constraints.

The ruling comes out on a motion to suppress evidence in the ongoing trial as filed by defendants, suggesting that state security uses brute force and torture methods to force confessions from defendants.

Reading his ruling, Judge Willie said that the court was hesitant to note that Dr. Philip Zochonis Ireland provided a photographic account of some of the defendants having scar wounds and certain illnesses on their bodies.

He opined that this argument is so because Dr. Ireland, in his own report, stated that, even though the defendants’ overall assessment was consistent with the allegation, these findings could also be caused by other conditions other than torture.

“So, in addition to his admission that his findings were hampered by the passage of time between the alleged incidents and the examination, which may have obscured or altered physical findings, and also the inherent limitations of available diagnostic modalities within our present setting, all contribute to the fact that the report has some constraints.” Judge Willie stated.

Judge Willie disclosed that, based on the allegation of torture and sodomy raised by the defense in their motion to suppress the evidence, the court has the proclivity to deny the evidence.

The judge ruled that the court was unable to determine the allegations of torture and sodomy made by defendants since the claims were based on medical examination and fact. Therefore, the Court mandated the AMI Expeditionary Healthcare to medically examine the said individuals who stated that the evidence obtained from them was as a result of their being sodomized and tortured by security officers. At the same time, they were detained and being investigated.

Subsequently, the judge stated that the AMI Expeditionary Healthcare conducted the medical examination based on the claims of sodomy and torture, and submitted a report through Dr. Philip Zochonis Ireland, BSc, MD, MPH, MASI (Clinical Endocrinology), MACP, FWACP, and FLCPS.

Following the reading of the report’s cover letter verbatim in court, Judge Willie stated that, based on the content of the covering letter just read, it is difficult to make an informed and authoritative decision regarding the report for two significant reasons.

Firstly, on the defendants walking back on their claims of sodomy, the defendants, according to the medical report, voluntarily retracted the claim of sexual abuse and sodomy during their medical examination. Therefore, no medical examination should be conducted on these parts of their bodies.

“The Court says, and believes that what this presupposes is that, although they told the Court the evidence should be suppressed because they were sodomized, this information is imaginary, as insinuated by them during their medical examination. Therefore, it would be unnecessary to conduct any examination relating to sodomy.”

Secondly, the judge ruled that the admission of the Physician in his report, when he acknowledged that the medical examination encountered certain “limitations and constraints”, which he mentioned as: (i) the passage of time between the alleged incidents and the examinations, which may have obscured or altered physical findings. (ii) Patient revocations of consent for specific examinations (notably genital and anal assessments), and (iii) the inherent limitations of available diagnostic modalities within our present setting may have contributed to outcomes as well.

According to the judge, the physicians then concluded that despite these constraints, they endeavored to provide a thorough, impartial, and professionally grounded account of the clinical evidence before him.

“WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, the Court says, based on the issues raised by the Defendants, the resistance thereto by the Prosecution, the laws cited herein, and the arguments put forth by the Parties, the Motion to Suppress the Evidence is hereby denied, and this case is ordered to proceed forthwith. The full trial in these proceedings is hereby assigned for Friday, September 26, 2025, at 10:00 am prompt. All Parties being present, today’s minutes serve as Notice of Assignment. AND IT IS HEREBY SO ORDERED, MATTERS SUSPENDED!” Judge Willie ruled. -Edited by Othello B. Garblah.