By Jenneh Braima
Two sisters, aged 15 and 17 years, names withheld, have accused their biological father, MIE Pratt (name abbreviated for editorial reasons), of consistently sexually abusing them
“He harassed, beat and subdued us violently before he would rape us” the elder of the sisters told Politico in-between sobs, adding “I was just about 13 in 2008 when he first raped and deflowered us”.
She said that the matter had long been brought to the notice of their mother, who confirmed she knew about her husband’s advances at the two girls but was afraid to go public with it.
M. Pratt, the mother, said in tears: “He is the breadwinner of the family and had always threatened that if we told anyone he would stop feeding my two daughters and me”.
She added that she had always wanted her children to be educated which was why she couldn’t report the matter to the police.
“If he stopped supporting them in school they would have nowhere to go to and nobody to support them” she said, adding that the matter reached the police when he raped the 15-year-old on 4 July this year at Leicester Road in Freetown.
Police at the Eastern Police have confirmed report of alleged harassment and rape brought to their notice by the daughters against their father.
The girls say the matter was assigned to 10039 Police Constable Fatmata Mansaray on 4 July 2013 but they didn’t get any feedback and on 15 July they had to meet We Yone, the governing party’s newspaper.
They accused the police of communicating with their father and telling him what transpired each time they went to check with her.
“She [the police officer] has been receiving money from him that is why she keeps delaying the matter,” they claimed.
But PC Mansaray told Politico that she was actively investigating the matter.
“I went to the [alleged] perpetrator’s place at ...Soldier Street to arrest him but he was very polite and pleaded with us. So we had to ask him to report to the police when he was less busy” she said.
The Local Unit Commander, Memunatu Conteh said she had not been aware of any such matter being investigated by PC Mansaray. When later she came to know about it, she sent for the suspect to be arrested but he was nowhere to be found. She said the police investigator has been suspended while the matter was being looked into.
Meanwhile, our investigations show that authorities at the Central Police have asked for the file to be transferred from Eastern Police.
