The Monrovia City Court at the Temple of Justice on Friday formally cleared Journalist Bill K. Jarkloh of Rape/Sodomy Charges. The City Court’s “Clerk’s Certificate” clearing Mr. Jarkloh of the charges forbids him from further answering to the charge of rape/sodomy.

The court document indicates that the case was been dismissed by the court after careful perusal in Mr. Jarkloh’s without prejudice, totally discharging him from further answering to the charge of Rape/Sodomy.

Mr. Jarkloh was on May 13, 2008 charged with Rape/Sodomy based on the complaint of one Ruth Samuels who alleged that he had raped her eight-year-old daughter Love Samuels. But Mr. Jarkloh at the time challenged his accusers to use the law prove the criminal charge against him instead of using extrajudicial methods.

The journalist who was detained at the Monrovia Central Prison for over three weeks by the court strongly protested his innocence and claimed that the charges against him were masterminded by people whose intend was to destroy his reputation.

Jarkloh noted that "the Chief Justice of Liberia, Cllr. Johnny Lewis, perfected the plot when he personally ordered the Monrovia City court to disregard police investigation into the Love Samuels situation and go ahead to prosecute Mr. Jarkloh in the absence of police investigative report and charge sheet as required by the New Penal Law of Liberia."

The journalist said the Women and Children Unit of the Liberia National Police was investigating the Love Samuels situation based on the intervention of a local NGO, ZODWOCA, Inc. through its Women and Children Coordinator Korpo Kortimai who is also Mr. Jarkloh’s spouse when the court arrested him on the Chief Justice’s orders.

The journalist further explained that Love Samuels was found on the streets of Monrovia in a state of abandonment. The journalists states that at which time the little girl told ZODWOCA and the Police that she was raped by a fellow known as Lincoln.

The journalists also said the police attested little girl on several prior occasions for vagrancy. The kid told police investigators at the Women and Children Unit that she was raped by this Lincoln person in a video cinema. “She earlier related the same information to ZODWOCA, and thereafter told the Safe Home to which police sent her for rehabilitation. She is said to have further confirmed this same information to the Court and even the Chief Justice in the presence relief workers and journalists.

Mr. Jarkloh has meanwhile indicated his intension of seeking legal redress against the people behind the conspiracy for the "very serious damage" the Rape and Sodomy allegation have done to his character and reputation. He then expressed his gratitude to all those who stood in his cause during his ordeal.