Liberia - LA Missionary, Lucas Richard arrested for attempted murder of Jessica Lloyd

[BayouBelle_LA]

Arnaudville man arrested in Liberia, charged with attempted murder

On September 14, a Facebook post from Creekside Church in Urbandale, Iowa asked for prayers for Lucas Richard, a missionary the church supported while he and his wife Lois Ann Richard served in Lib…

www.klfy.com

Arnaudville, La (KLFY)– An Arnaudville man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder while on a missionary trip in Liberia. The victim, a Liberian woman, said he tried to kill her by slitting her throat.
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Liberia’s Ministry of Justice confirmed Richard’s arrest in a statement after the Liberia National Police arrested him on allegations of criminal attempt to commit murder and aggravated assault.
During their investigation, Richard told Liberian Police he and Lloyd were attacked by people on motorbikes after he took her to the market.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Iowa church distancing itself from US missionary accused of attacking woman in Liberia

Creekside Church told KCCI it is working with the U.S. Department of State to address the allegations.

www.kcci.com

On September 14th, Creekside Church was made aware of a situation involving one of the missionaries we support, Lucas Richard, in Liberia. The information we received from his wife, who was serving with him in Liberia, was that Lucas was attacked and robbed, so we posted a prayer request for our congregation. News later broke that Lucas had been incarcerated and accused of the attempted murder and aggravated assault of a Liberian girl, Jessica Lloyd. He maintains his innocence.
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Sadly, we have confirmed today through an eyewitness from Liberia that Lucas had in fact entered into a marriage with Jessica, which neither we nor Lois had any prior knowledge of. While there are many points of allegations we cannot confirm, since the extramarital relationship has been verified, this alone makes Lucas ineligible to represent our church or receive our support. We are continuing to work with the State Department, contacts in Liberia, and others to seek both truth and justice.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

American missionary accused of attempted murder of Liberian wife after she announced pregnancy - Face2Face Africa

American missionary Lucas Richard is accused of attempting to fatally slit the throat of his Liberian wife Jessica Lloyd.

face2faceafrica.com

Lloyd’s mother said her daughter and Richard started their romantic relationship after they met while the victim was in boarding school. Richard later asked for her hand in marriage. “My daughter confided in me, and I suggested that we meet this man. She informed me that he was already married to an older woman. A week later, both of them came, and we held a traditional wedding ceremony,” she said.

The victim went back to school after the wedding, per the Daily Observer. And though Richard impregnated Lloyd, the victim told her mother he was “aware of the situation and was supportive.”

But things took a nosedive after officials in the school accused Lloyd of having an affairwith the American missionary. Lloyd’s mother also claimed her daughter suffered a miscarriage after Richard injected her with a substance.

“He injected her, and shortly after, Jessica reported that her legs had weakened. I immediately informed her father, and he asked if I was certain it was intentional. I was hesitant to believe it due to his seemingly caring behavior,” she said.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Liberia: Lucas Richard’s First Day in Court

www.liberianobserver.com

Inside the court, Richard sat alone on a bench, wearing a black shirt, tan shorts, black, socks, and brown leather shoes. He was handcuffed, clasped hands, his head slightly bowed.
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While waiting, Richard asked someone, “excuse me, can I have my water.” A man poured some water into a cup, drank some himself, to show Richard that it was OK, and then Richard drank some.
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The first order of business in the courts was for justice officials to take an inventory of all of Richard’s personal belongings. Everything that was said there was audible to everyone in the court.
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Suddenly, Richard began to complain that his privacy is being violated by journalists in the court recording what medications he has.

“This is not America here,” one of Jessica’s aunt’s said out loud, responding to Richard’s complaint about ‘violation of privacy’.

The medications in Richard’s possession could prove to be of key relevance to the trial, given that Jessica earlier told the police that Richard gave her an injection, which caused the termination of her pregnancy.
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Up to this point, no lawyer, family, friends or colleagues of Richard had shown up to represent or commiserate with him.

His lawyer finally showed up, asking: “Ehn da the place the white man did the thing with the girl?”
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Inside the court, Richard’s lawyer, who wore an affable smile, argued that the case is “beyond the jurisdiction of this honorable court.” He asked that the case be “sent to the appropriate circuit that bearing original jurisdiction over this matter.”

Though there was no objection from the state, there were mentions that ‘attempted murder’ is a capital offense and, therefore, Richard was not eligible for bail. He was therefore remanded at the Monrovia Central prison at South Beach, Monrovia.