Monrovia — Thirteen-year-old Sarah Andrews, not her real name, was allegedly raped by Mr. Amos Gono, an influential man in the Johnsonville Kpelleh Town Community in which a street is named after, called Gono Street.
According to a community source, who does not want to be named, Mr. Gono, a friend of Sarah's uncle, was in the process of compromising the case because he and the alleged perpetrator's strong ethnic connections. And the family of Mr. Gono had been visiting the girl's uncle to compromise the case, which was never reported to the police by the uncle.
He further said when the news from the hospital confirmed that the survivor was constantly raped and sodomized, the uncle's wife collapsed.
"The uncle's wife pressure went up when she heard the rape news from the hospital, she passed out and while on their way to the hospital, she died. As it seems, some family member are angry with Gono and were even trying to stone him for causing their sister to die." My source said.
Prior to the incident of the death of the aunt, when FPA visited the community, the alleged perpetrator was said to have been on the run after the incident, but a community member, who chose to remain anonymous, in the presence of FPA, contacted Cllr. Isaac George, head of the Ministry of Justice Sexual and Gender Based Violence Unit, via mobile to ask for a way forward. And Cllr. George, on the other end of the line, told the community dweller that once the case was reported to the police by anyone, he would get involve to have the perpetrator arrested and was willing to take the uncle to the police for questioning, which was done right away and the perpetrator was later arrested and awaiting court trial.
After witnessing the community dweller's interaction with Cllr. George, FPA contacted the uncle via mobile phone to know if his daughter was really raped as claimed, but he sounded very angry and shouted at the receiver's end:
"Who gave you my number, so I can deal with that person, because they can't mind their business? In fact, my daughter was never raped," he said and hanged up the phone.
However, rebutting his claims of his daughter not being raped, the rape report from the Du-Port Hospital indicated that the survivor was constantly raped and sodomized by the perpetrator. One report alleged that Sarah and many little girls have suffered rape by close family members or family friends of which many perpetrators go with impunity due to the several challenges, according to an expert.
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According to Liberia's UNDP Resident Representative, Louis Kuukpen, 2023 report, Sexual violence cases hit a high of 2,708 in 2019, and 2,240 in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting His Excellency President George Weah to declare rape a national emergency.
He further said in his report that the prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence crimes has been remarkably inadequate due to a number of factors ranging from inadequate court infrastructure, inadequate staffing and technical capacity, and high caseloads.
Quoting the Independent National Commission on Human Rights 2020 report, he said rapists continue to benefit from a deeply entrenched culture of impunity while survivors languish with slim hopes for justice.
This culture combined with the trauma endured by survivors has created a climate of fear that perpetuates a vicious cycle of silence that allows the vice to flourish. Low accountability for sexual crimes has profound consequences - it undermines confidence in the justice system, deprives survivors of the closure they deserve, and discourages reporting of sexual crimes.
However, community Dwellers are concern about Sarah's being stigmatized as she is still in the Community and has not been taken to a government run safe home.
