Liberia: What caused the death of the Liberian player, Patrick Doeplah is now out
Liberia international winger and midfielder, Patrick Doeplah, who played for Hapoel Kfar Saba, an Israeli club, was pronounced dead at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Monrovia, early Tuesday morning. The corpse has been deposited at the Samuel A. Stryker Funeral Home.
Liberia midfielder Patrick Doeplah
The 21-year-old mid-fielder died in his spouse’s room. The spouse of Doeplah is identified as Margaret in the Old Road community, an outskirt of Monrovia. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, our investigation has established.
According to reports, the former Lone Star’s machine man Doeplah flew to Liberia along with players Solomon Grimes, Al Husein Keita and another Liberian footballer, ( name with held).
The Liberian international players were received at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) by a representative of Liberia Football Association (LFA).
Reports indicate that the players, upon arrival, were driven to the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS), the headquarters of the LFA and later transported to the domicile of Musa Shannon, Vice President for Administration of the LFA, as the temporary camp.
The reports state that when player Doeplah and his colleagues arrived at their temporary camp, after few minutes, he appealed to Musa Shannon, who is also the head of delegation of the U-23 Lone Star team in Ghana, to visit his parents. Doeplah’s appeal to Shannon was accepted on ground that he will join his colleagues early Tuesday morning, for his first practice session.
“As soon as his request was granted, he telephoned one of his friends, Cassell Cole, the President of FC Fassell, a 2nd division team in the LFA, to pick him up from Shannon’s residence.
“Instead of him going to his parents’ house situated at Gardnersville (an outskirt of Monrovia), reports said Doeplah only made a telephone call to his parents, informing them of his arrival in the country and went to his spouse’s house in the Old Road, along with two of his childhood friends.
“We thought that player Doeplah would use that opportunity to apologize to his spouse who and him were in a conflict, but unfortunately, upon his arrival at the spouse’s house, he decided to go for a ride in and around Monrovia, which angered his spouse to angrily leave the house and did not came back.
“When Doeplah and his friends returned to the spouse’s house, Patrick and his friends listened to some mixture of music and by about 2:00am, he wished them good night and instructed his friends to wake him up early in the morning for practice.
“When day broke, after several knocks at his door without any response, his friends broke the door and met him (Doeplah) fighting death (screaming) and when they reached at the hospital, he was pronounced dead,” one of friends, who begged for anonymity told our reporter.
When contacted, some officials of the LFA who begged for anonymity confirmed that player Doeplah never slept in camp. Player Doeplah was invited by the LFA to showcase for the U-23 Lone Star team in phase two of the London 2012 qualifying rounds.
Latest reports gathered, have it that his spouse (Margaret) and a friend of Patrick Doeplah (name withheld) were called in by the Liberia National police for questioning. When contacted by the Daily Observer, the spokesperson of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Col. George Bardue promised to talk to the press after getting detailed information about the incident as the LNP was still investigating the incident.
According to the BBC, the chairman of the Israel’s Kfar Saba stated: “I have spoken to the players of Kfar Saba [and] they are in heavy shock,” said club chairman Harel Reichman.
Doeplah made his debut for the national team in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Zimbabwe last September.
Doeplah was dropped from the senior side to the U-23 Lone Star team to form a formidable junior team in the ongoing London 2012 qualifiers.
In Liberia and Sierra Leone’s two games, Doeplah was instrumental in getting the lone goal for the Lone Star in her first game and netted the last penalty kick in the second game, which sent Sierra Leone out.
The Director of Communication of the LFA, Henry Flomo, who failed to officially comment on the death of Patrick Doeplah disclosed that the U-23 team is expected to depart Ghana today with “heavy heart”, to face Ivory Coast on Sunday. He also stated that the Senior Lone Star team is also expected to leave for Cape Verde to play Cape Verde’s senior national team in the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers on Saturday.
Many soccer lovers are wondering as to whether player Doeplah was poisoned or his death was natural. Meanwhile, some of them are calling on the family of Patrick Doeplah to call for an autopsy to establish the cause of death.
Credit: LiberianObserver .com
