Monrovia – Unlike cases of rape where much is being done in terms of prosecution and awareness, little or nothing is heard or done about sodomy cases in Liberia.
With the new waves of sodomy cases it means that Liberia perhaps has to fight on two fronts with boys being sexually abused like young girls who are raped regularly around the country.
Seventeen-year old Pete Brown (real name withheld) was recently gang sodomized in Paynesville by a group of men led by a man identified by the Police as Jimmy Wonyehn (popularly known as Jimmy).
The sodomy has left the boy with serious pain in the rectum, stomach and he’s finding it difficult to urinate.
According to Police report, Jimmy who lured the boy to be gang sodomize is a neighbor to the family and is working at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The medical report from the Du-Port Health Center proves that the boy was tempered with and the health center has since been providing the victim with medical treatment.
Prime suspect Jimmy has been arrested and is currently behind bars awaiting court trail.
The prime suspect is detained at the Zone-five Police station in Paynesville.
Police spokesman Sam Collins has confirmed that suspect Jimmy is being held in Police custody adding it is reported that he sent the victim at the Police Academy Junction.
According to the Police spokesman the Police gathered reports from the victim that he was sent by suspect Jimmy to a black Jeep as that point the boy was sprayed which made him dizzy and sodomized.
Collins added, that medical report from Du-Port Road Health center in the possession of the Liberian National Police confirms that the 17-year boy was tempered with.
Chapter 14 of the Penal Law of Liberia states: “Offences involving danger to the person- among other things, criminalizes involuntary sodomy, as one who engages in deviate sexual intercourse under circumstance not stated in Section 14.72 [relating to aggravated involuntary sodomy] or 14.73 [relating to involuntary sodomy] has committed a first degree misdemeanor.
The victim mother Ma-Mary (not her real name) in sad and confused mood narrated the ordeal saying that her son came home complaining that he was “rape” (sodomized) by the detained suspect and his friends.
“He will just stand and start yelling “they coming to rape, they coming to rape” Ma Mary said. But she felt that her son was taking drug.
Ma Mary said that due to the persistent complaining from her son, he was taken to the Du-Port road health center.
According to the mother of the victim the chief suspect Jimmy asked the boy to help him paint his apartment adding that he told the boy to go at Police Academy Junction to collect additional paint from a black jeep.
Ma Mary narrated that upon her son arriving at the junction the boy was told to get in the car and collect the paint but while trying to collect the paint the boy was sprayed and he immediately got dizzy adding that he was tied and taken to an unknown location and five men sodomized him.
The Police says that the Prime suspect Jimmy is currently being held at the Zone #5 Police station since Friday which is more than 48 hours detention as provided by the law.
Sources have hinted FrontPageAfrica that Police is delaying with proceeding to court in an attempt to twist the case.
The Mother of victim said, that a group of men have been coming to her house to induce in order to settle the case home adding that in spite of her low financial status she will do all in her power to ensure her son gets justice.
“Those people can destroy my son because I don’t have anything and they go free. They want to take advantage of us because we do have money,” Ma Mary added.
Last year speaking at the launch of Radio program for children, Gender Minister Ducan-Cassell recognized the trend in of boys adding that more attention should be given boys.
“Lots of our children are still being abused, our girls are being raped, as we launch this radio program, the children will be our guest, the men will be our guest, the women will be our guest, the girls will be our guest and the boys will also be our guest because our boys too are being sodomized,” she noted.
It can be recalled In July 2015; Police in Sanniquellie, Nimba County arrested and turned over to the 8th Judicial Circuit Court in Nimba County a 36 year-old man identified as Alex Dahn for allegedly sodomizing a six year-old boy in the county.
Suspect Dahn was arrested after he was caught right-handed by some residents while committing the alleged act. A ten-year-old boy was also recently allegedly sodomized by a Nigerian National believed to be a pastor.
The Juvenile Court at the Temple of Justice 2015 incarcerated at the Monrovia Central Prison a 17-year-old boy Jerome Willie for allegedly sodomizing a 10-year-old boy.
Defendant Willie, a resident of Paynesville where the 10-year-old victim also lives, was on July 20, arrested by the Liberia National Police (LNP) based upon a complaint filed by the victim’s parents alleging that their son was sodomized by the defendant.
The Police charge sheet stated that defendant Willie has, on more than one occasion, sodomized the victim, adding that the defendant is a generator repairer who always calls the victim to help him.
The Liberian law prohibits consensual same-sex sexual activity, and the culture is strongly opposed to homosexuality.
“Voluntary sodomy” is a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to one year’s imprisonment. As of 2015 two persons were in MCP custody for sodomy, one of whom had been in pretrial detention for more than three years.
In 2015, the Women’s and Children’s Protection Section (WACPS) of the LNP investigated 188 reported cases of rape, of which 59 were referred to a specialized.
A few of the 59 cases referred to Court E during the year were forwarded to criminal court (Court C) for further judicial review, and all eight prosecutions during the year resulted in conviction and sentences ranging from one to seven years’ imprisonment.
The Sexual and Gender-based Crimes Unit within the Ministry of Justice has improved case management and increased the number of sexual offense indictments from 16 in 2014 to 147 during the year.
