Kono — Over seven hundred women and school girls in the eastern district town of Kono Thursday took to the streets to denounce what they considered as an increase in sexual and gender based violence in the district.

Women clad mostly in black and white clothes and displaying hundreds of placards, processed through the major streets of Koidu town to protest against the death of a 12-year-old pupil who was allegedly raped to death by a 56-year-old man, Abu Bakarr Singatae.

A resident of Kono, Singatae was alleged to have sexually assaulted the late girl, a situation that led to the protest by the woman, who are demanding a thorough investigation into the matter.

Hasanatu Mansaray, one of the protesters, bawled that much has not been done by the government and other stakeholders to protect women against sexual abuse and ill-treatment meted out on them by their men folks.

According to the head of the family support unit of the Tankoro police division, Mustapha Kamara, Singatae was taken to the station for questioning after he was accused by one Kawusu Tarawallie, uncle of the deceased, that he sexually abused his niece and that he was responsible for the girl's demise.

"The incident occurred on the 25th of February and the complaint was made on February 26. We received information that the girl died on the 2nd of March. The deceased made a statement before she died but we are still investigating," Kamara told Concord Times.

"At the moment we have obtained statements from three witnesses, including the landlord of the compound where the incident occurred. We have preferred preliminary charges against the accused while we await the outcome of the postmortem."

Kamara observed that domestic violence was on the increase in the district but that his department was working assiduously to reduce the trend by charging sexual assault cases to court.

Civil society organizations across the country are greatly disturbed about the alarming state at which incidences of rape are occurring within the first three months of the year.

In a press release issued over the weekend, the coalition of civil society groups condemned the act and called on stakeholders to put a stop to what they described as the rampant human rights violations and criminal acts against young girls.

"We condemn in the strongest terms possible such despicable acts of violence against young girls. A 12-year-old girl in Kenema was defiled by an older man and later died as a result of that. Also in Bombali district, a 13-year-old girl was defiled by a 45-year-old man; a similar incident occurred in Moyamba in which 5 and 9 year old girls were defiled with no arrests made. And in Bo, a 16-year-old was gang raped with no convictions almost a year later, while in Freetown, a 12-year-old girl was sexually abused by a 49-year-old man.

"SGBV is a criminal offence and an abuse of a citizen's basic human rights under the Domestic Violence Act (2007) and other laws in Sierra Leone," the release stated.