Monrovia — A 12-year-old survivor named Annie, (not her real name), has accused her stepfather of constantly raping and violating her.
The stepfather, who works at the National Port Authority, has been arrested and is currently in police custody. It is reported that he was arrested from his place of work last week, while the girl's uncle, only identified as Samson, is on the run.
While the alleged perpetrator remains in custody and awaiting to appear in court, the case has already been marred by controversy. Since the case was reported, there have been three medical reports, with two confirming the girl was raped, and the other claiming she was not tampered with.
A nurse from the Du-Port Clinic in Paynesville, one of government's operating one stop centers, who examined the survivor, said the child was still a virgin and had not been raped, while Hope for Women Medical Center, another government's one stop center, confirmed the child has been raped with severe lacerations in her private part.
The report corroborated with the first report obtained at a local clinic in the Matadi community, where she was first taken.
"The child was examined by two medical doctors at the Hope for Women Medical Center and it is confirmed that she had been raped with lacerations up to 9:00. So, I do not know why the nurse at Du-port Road Clinic would say the survivor is still a virgin," says Atty. Emmett Kaye, Gender Ministry's legal person.
Kaye said she will report the nurse and the commander of the women and children department at the Matadi Police Depot to be investigated. Kaye said he helped the police in the arrest of the perpetrator and after the child's final examination, she was taken to a Government-run safe home.
In a short video clip, and details provided by journalist Sekou V. Sheriff Jr. of Voice F.M, who helped in the investigation, little Annie narrated: "My step father told me he wanted to do the same thing my uncle used to do to me before and when I refused, he forced himself on me and had sex with me and he can always do it to me."
She furthered explained that the last time when her stepfather tried to rape her and she refused, she ran to the gate of the compound they live in to get out but it was locked and when he tried to stop her, she told him if he did not open the gate, she was going to shout, and when he opened the gate, she ran to their neighbor named Aunty Doris and told her.
"Aunty Doris told my Ma (mother) and she said I was lying but my step father is always having sex with me. My mother can beat children badly so I do not want to go home again because I am scared and tired of my stepfather having sex with me. I want my stepfather to go to jail," she said.
The mother of the survivor was heard in an audio recording complaining while speaking to a friend, that what her daughter did was intended to spoil her home. And how they were going to see how best to resolve the issue so her husband won't be implicated.
A registered nurse from the Matadi City Clinic who chose not to be named, was the first to examine the child and she explained that the child was found vomiting on her campus and was taken to their clinic by her school administrator and a community member.
And when they examined her, they discovered she was wearing three under pants soaked with blood, and when they asked her, she said she had been repeatedly raped by her stepfather but she was afraid to speak because in the past, when she was eight, her aunt's brother, only identified as Sampson, started raping her and when she reported, she was flogged and pepper placed every part of her body.
The nurse said after the examination, they did their report that the child had several lacerations, but because they are not the government 's one stop center, they only detailed what they saw.
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Said the nurse: "So, I took her to the police depot in Matadi and after explaining, she said she did not want to go home because she was afraid, so the police officer asked me to keep until she was ready to be taken to the one stop center at the Du-Port Road Clinic. And the next morning when I got the child ready, I received a call from a lady claiming to be a nurse from Du-port Road and she wanted to know how far we were. When we arrived at the clinic, she did her examination and said the child was still a virgin and had not been raped because everything was still intact."
The nurse said later that evening the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection and another lady from the ministry, called her while the child was with, and the next morning, the ministry's legal person, Atty. Emmett Kaye, called her to meet him at the Police Depot in Matadi and the case was transferred to the Liberian National Police (LNP) headquarters and that was how the Ministry later took the survivor to the Hope for Women for examination and a safe home afterwards.
