Janaury 25, 2022
By: Hafsatu Z Bangura
A 24 years old business woman travelling from Freetown to Makeni was allegedly ganged raped by four men on her way to Makeni on the 15th January 2022 along the Freetown Makeni highway just after Gbomsamba village.
According to the victim she said her rapists physically assaulted her and stole from her the sum of three million eight hundred thousand Leones 3,800,000.00 ($380) and left her helpless by the road bleeding profusely.
She said she boarded a vehicle that was travelling from Freetown to Magburuka and that she usually board late night vehicle at 5-5 park waterloo to do business.
She continued that while in Masiaka the first vehicle that she boarded had a faulty breakdown and that the driver of the vehicle had to board her on another six wheeler vehicle that was also heading the same direction she was going.
She said onboard the new vehicle she saw four men and a lady and that she was the 6th passenger on board the vehicle.
She furthermore stated that the other female passenger stopped by her destination at Foredugu road a town on the way to Makeni while she continued with her journey with the rest of the four men.
She said on their way the driver of the vehicle said to her that he was romantically attracted to her and asked her for sex of which she said she refused but that the driver was persistent on the sex.
The 24 year old business woman said she later saw the four men smoking Kush inside the vehicle and that at the scene of the crime she heard the apprentice asking the driver if she agreed to her request and the driver responded with a negative answer and that the apprentice responded saying that the driver was playing with her and that’s was why the alleged victim was delaying to have sex with him.
The victim said the driver stopped the vehicle and pretended as if something was wrong with the vehicle and she said she came out of the car to urinate in one of the bushes nearby where the four men rushed towards her as she shouted for help but no one was available neither could hear her plea for help.
The four men according to the victim attacked her and demanded her to handover her money and that one of the attackers slapped her and forcefully took the money from her and beat her up and the driver forcefully had sex with her whilst the other three placed their hands inside her vagina and that she was in pain as she was bleeding profusely and left her by the roadside to die.
A motorcyclist arrived at her rescue and alerted police officers at Makoth a nearby checkpoint as police stopped vehicles in order for her to identify the perpetrators of which according to her she only saw the driver and his apprentice and identified them and were arrested and taken to the Mena police station.
She concluded that she was taken to the hospital where the nurse confirmed that she was raped and tortured and damaged as her vagina was bleeding profusely on her arrival at the hospital.