By Kemo Cham and Umaru Fofana
There has been an outpouring of outrage and consternation on social media over the death of a five-year-old girl as a result of a rape.
An autopsy report says Kadija Saccoh died as a result of complications from injuries she sustained after she had allegedly been raped multiple times.
Her name and image are being used because she is deceased and her family waived off her privacy and supplied us with her photos.
It is not clear when the alleged rape happened but she died on 17 June, according to the same autopsy report, which shows that she was raped multiple times.
Among other things, the report also says that there was “manual strangulation (asphyxia death)”, “vaginal and anal dilation” and her tongue was bitten.
The police criminal investigations department says two people are under custody – the deceased’s maternal aunt and her son who is the alleged rapist. She had been living with them after her mother travelled to the UK.
According to Kadija’s father, Abubakar Saccoh, she had been living with his sister but following a bitter custody battle the mother asked for possession of the child. Speaking to Politico from the United States as he wept sometimes inconsolably, he said his estranged partner later left for the UK and left the child with her own sister whose son, said to be 20 years old, is now alleged to have raped her.
He said he had filed for her now late daughter to join him in the United States and had gone through the process including securing her US citizenship and passport.
“I went to Freetown in January this year and was there until February, just to bring my daughter to the US”, the father of nine said. “When I came back to the US I was held back by the coronavirus pandemic otherwise I would have returned to continue the struggle to get custody of my daughter whom I will never see again”, he said, as he broke down again.
Saccoh said that the relatives called him to say his daughter had died without explanation. “I know a child cannot just die like that when she had no underlying health condition”, he said, adding: “I therefore called for an autopsy which the family initially resisted saying we are all Muslims and the girl should be buried immediately”.
He said that aroused suspicion and he therefore insisted that his daughter must not be buried until an autopsy had been carried out.
He said he had just bought some clothes and toys for her which he was preparing to ship when the news came through that she had died.
Social media is now awash with outrage as Sierra Leoneans demand that the government ensure justice takes its cause.
The child rights organization, Kids Advocacy Network (KAN), issued a statement calling on the government and the police to ensure the matter was investigated and the perpetrator brought to book.
“This is a violation of both the Child Rights Act of 2007 and the Sexual Offences Act of 2012 that was amended last year [2019],” KAN said in its statement, calling on the public to desist from sharing the photo of the girl.
The organization also used the opportunity to call for the protection of girls in a country where activists say rape has taken epidemic proportions.
First Lady Fatima Bio also lent her voice to the issue in a Facebook post late on Saturday night. She said she and President Julius Maada Bio were concerned about the incident.
Mrs Bio, who has championed the fight against the sexual abuse of girls ever since her husband was elected, said she had requested for information from the family of the victim and that she was waiting for that to act accordingly.
“His Excellency is angry and anxiously waiting [for] all the information” from the girl’s family for appropriate action, she said.
Mrs Bio also expressed shock and anger at the privately-run Indian hospital, Choithram, for allegedly refusing to treat the victim when she was taken to the facility.
Sierra Leone only last year amended its sexual offenses law, after the country saw a sharp rise in cases of sexual violence.
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