Rape on the increase in Sierra Leone, victims getting younger

A child welfare organisation, Don Bosco Fambul, has issued a damning report on the state of sexual violence against children in Sierra Leone. Some of the victims are raped by their teachers, religious leaders and complete strangers, with some as young as three years. Titled “Brutal Violence Against Girls in Sierra Leone”, the report highlights data collected at the Don Bosco Girls Shelter in Freetown which takes in mostly sexually abused girls and cares for them until it is safe to return them to their homes. Since the Girls Shelter was opened in 2011, the report says, 521 crisis interventions of violence against girls have been carried out. A statement from Don Bosco says that unlike last year, this year’s findings present “shocking empirical findings”. “It is not only the increasing brutality of the perpetrators of violence against the girls that is alarming but also the rising number of rape against girls and young women under the age of 14” the report says, and criticises the investigating authorities for engendering “a culture of impunity”. It highlights the case of a 13-year-old girl who was raped by five male youths and died of her injuries despite an intensive medical intervention. The agency accuses the police of never having investigated the case despite repeated calls to do so. “The boldness that characterises the way the perpetrators act against the girls and young women bears testimony of the perpetrators’ grave moral void” the statement continues, with the perpetrators oftentimes not regarding themselves “as criminals but present themselves as benefactors” the Don Bosco Director Lothar Wagner says. “Some of the girls were kept like slaves by their tormentors, oftentimes for years,” says Florence Roberts, the assistant coordinator of Girls Shelter. She told Politico that some of the victims of rape include 3-year-old who was brought to the shelter. She says the number of girls being raped has significantly increased with the age of the victims reducing alarmingly. Florence says some of the alleged perpetrators do not get prosecuted because files get delayed with the family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police. She says that when they do follow-up they are usually told the files are with the Director of Public Prosecution leading to the release of such perpetrators. In 37 cases of rape the investigation files were demonstrably manipulated by the police or investigations were deliberately delayed, according to a statement from Don Bosco. “Perpetrators were released from custody and disappeared without a trace in spite of the incriminating evidence against them” it says, adding that only a fraction of the rape cases make it to court. Assistant Superintendent of Police, Fatmata Kamara of the police family support unit denies any wrong doing calling the allegations “unfortunate” and “mere allegations”. Speaking to Politico, she says they have been doing their best by charging cases to court with a special arrangement now for rape cases to be tried on Saturdays. She admits that there are a lot of backlog cases which she says are no fault of theirs. On the release of alleged perpetrators of sexual violence, ASP Kamara says they also have their civil liberties until they are tried and convicted. She says the law does not allow for the continued detention without trial of a rape suspect for over ten days when without granting them a bail. During a visit to the Girls Shelter, Politico spoke with some of them girls who narrated their harrowing experiences with men who raped them at home or on the street.