By Francis H. Murray
A 55-year-old rape victim has recounted her ordeal in the hands of her alleged rapists in one of the most captivating incidents of sexual and gender based violence in Sierra Leone.
The alleged victim explained to the court that she was dragged naked through the village by members of the “Poro” society after being gang raped in front of her door.
She was testifying during the ongoing preliminary hearing on the matter on Friday, in front of Magistrate Abdul Sheriff at the Padempa Road Magistrate court in Freetown. It was her first testimony since the case came to court last month. And it was the fifth hearing.
Friday’s hearing was held behind closed doors to protect her identity.
The eight suspects in the case, who are all in detention, face charges over the incident that occurred on 11th January 2020 at Moutor Village in Kpanda Kemoh Chiefdom in Bonthe District, Southern Sierra Leone.
Speaking through an interpreter, the woman said on the day of the incident that she heard voices of men instructing all women to enter their houses with immediate effect. She said the voices were from Poro men who were preparing for their initiation ceremony.
Responding to the State Prosecutors, Lawyer Joanna Bull and Assistant Superintendent of Police Moses Moore, the victim explained:
“No woman needed to be told that such a ceremony is about to happen. Once you hear that voice, you find a place to hide. After I got in, I heard continuous banging on my door and I shouted: ‘who is there? Who is there?’
“When I got to the door, before I could even open it, I was slapped on my face by a wooden board. So, I fell and held to my bed crying and pleading to them not to take me away. I could not tell who they were, but I was dragged and dropped on the ground in front of my house. I was shouted at, beaten and tortured,” the woman narrated.
She added: “They cut the rope on my waist, removed my trousers and my pants, opened my legs and began to forcefully have sex with me.”
During her testimony, she said she could only identify two of the alleged perpetrators, one of whom was the seventh accused, Abdul Salam Fullah, whom she accused of dragging her by her cloth during the incident.
She said the other alleged perpetrator, who she recognized as Marna Kallon, wasn’t among the eight.
The woman said she couldn’t identify the other perpetrators because her eyes were tied, and her face was partly covered with blood.
“After some time, they stopped and untied my face. I turned and saw one, Marnah Kallon,” she said, adding: ‘‘I was seriously bleeding from my vagina and other parts of my body during the process and even after. I was dragged naked by men through the village, one of whom I identified (Abdul Salam Fullah).”
The woman said she was later taken to a chief in Gondama who asked the men who arrested her to take her back home because of the bad condition she was in. She later reported the matter to the Police and was taken to a nearby hospital in Mattru Jong.
Defense counsel, A. Gberie, in cross examining the victim, invoked Section 190 sub section 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act to request for the statement of the victim. After inspection of the victim’s statement, Lawyer Gberie said that the victim stated during her statement at the police station that the only person she identified was the 7th accused, therefore the accused persons were wrongly arrested and detained.
But the woman replied by saying that as miserable as her condition was, she could not have identified any of the accused persons except for the seventh accused and Marnah Kallon who was never arrested.
At the end of his examination, Lawyer Gberie renewed his application for bail to be granted to his clients on the condition that their health conditions were such that it was potentially bad for them to remain in detention.
Magistrate Sheriff denied all eight accused persons bail and adjourned the hearing until Wednesday 18th March.
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