Store owner’s widow thankful for community after conviction reached in his murder

CHARLOTTE — An east Charlotte woman says she finally has closure years after her husband was shot and killed at his business.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted the man who killed Massaquoi Kotay. Channel 9’s Erika Jackson spoke with his widow, Esther, who said her heart still aches and admitted to still being angry.

Esther Kotay told Jackson she can move forward knowing justice has been served, though she doesn’t expect her grief will subside.

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“I will never see him again,” she said crying.

Kotay’s pain is as raw as the moment she learned of her husband’s murder. She has vivid memories of the day Massaquoi was killed during an armed robbery at his store on North Tryon Street.

“I texted him. I said, ‘they said there was a shooting around the store. Is everything OK? Call me back,’” she told Jackson. “I didn’t hear from him.”

That was January 2017. The case did not go to trial until last month.

“I thought there was not going to be justice,” Kotay said. “There was not going to be justice because after six years -- that was so long.”

A jury convicted Shalome Scott of Massaquoi’s murder earlier this month. Scott was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Esther remembers the moment she heard the verdict.

“I’m happy right now. I’m relieved right now,” she said. “I’m so relieved right now that justice has been served.”

But that doesn’t take away her anguish. She said it’s agonizing knowing her husband won’t see their sons graduate. The couple won’t be able to attend events together in Charlotte’s Liberian community, and Massaquoi won’t get to live out his dream as a new business owner.

“Somebody from nowhere [had] come to take his life away for no reason,” she said.

Esther expects her pain will stay prominent, but so will her gratitude for her neighbors in the Charlotte community.

“I want to tell the jury thank you for feeling our pain. Had it not been for them, we would not have justice today,” she said.

Another man, Desmond Black, previously pleaded guilty in connection with the murder. Kotay told Jackson he was a regular customer at her husband’s store.

(WATCH PREVIOUS BELOW: Widow of beloved Charlotte business owner: ‘We miss him every day’)

Widow of beloved Charlotte business owner: 'We miss him every day' Widow of beloved Charlotte business owner: 'We miss him every day'

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