July 9, 2021
By: Mohamed Jalloh
When some creatures who claim to be human beings have lost their humanity they can resort to the unimaginable. Even as the dust is yet to settle on the popular Khadija Saccoh` s rape case, another 2year old ibaby has been sexually abused to death in Gogoima village in Boama Chiefdom, Bo district
.Her father Phillip Bayoh was away helping in the construction of a village bridge, whiles her mother was busy doing her normal household chores, when a pedophile who was lurking around snatched the baby away. She was later discovered dead under a banana tree with blood oozing from her private area.
Khadija Saccoh was only 5 years old when she succumbed to the pains meted by her abuser. In the Gogoima village incident, the victim is only two years old making her three years younger than Khadija Saccoh. One could only imagine the excruciating pain such a tender flesh could experience.
Khadija`s case gained both national and international attention because she appears to be born into a well to do family that is financially stable to pay for autopsy fees, legal fees and a media campaign.
But, who would champion the cause of justice for the poor little two year old who was living with her agrarian parents in the far flung village Gogoima village in Bo?
No one is naïve to believing that the popularity of a matter could mean justice for a victim, but the attention generated by child sexual abuse matters to bring to the public domain the naked reality of such cruel incidents.
If Khadija did not get justice, there is certainly no likelihood that justice would be served for the poor innocent angel in Gogoima village.
The police know that the poor parents of the child could not afford the autopsy fees and they have asked the parents to prematurely bury the child. In fact, the police are yet to arrest a single suspect in connection with the matter. It is true that the Family Support of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) is under resourced and underfunded thereby lacking the necessary mobility such as motor bikes and other logistic to investigate such cases. However, the decision to ask the parents to bury the child is rash and hasty.
In the event the culprit is apprehended what kind of charges could be proffered?
Could it be murder or sexual penetration of a minor? Only God Knows…
Perhaps, one could even speculate that the perpetrator could never be uncovered.
The felon could be residing in the village with a conviction that he would never be exposed. But, one could also harbor a conviction that the omniscient power of God will lay him bare, to be answerable for his devilish and heinous crime. The perpetrators of such devilish crimes are in most cases acquiantances such as neighbours, close relatives and patronizers. The wrong doers are never farfetched.
One`s head cannot stop gyrating on the motive or impulse that drives men who rape children as young as two years old. The act seems premeditated to deliberately abuse the 2 year old to death, knowing that the baby could not be able to contend or cope with such a brutal agony. Unsurprisingly, after the sexual abuse, blood was found oozing from the vagina of the toddler when she was found dead under a banana tree.
Whether the said act is performed for ritualistic purpose or a mere demonstration of insanity, the perpetrators of such crimes or people with raping tendencies should not be allowed to live among the rest of decent and civilize humanity. With hordes of prostitutes around ready to offer sexual services sometimes for as cheap as Le 10,000, how could a mature man develop sexual feelings for a baby as young as 2years old? Since the acts of rapists depict them as aliens from another planet they must if possible be banished to live in a different world.
These are the harsh realities that prompted the first lady Fatima Jabbie Bio to initiate the “hands off our girls” campaign, to break the silence that surrounds the issue which is normally compromised if the perpetrator happens to be a close relative. Some girls do lose their virginity to their step fathers and in some extreme cases biological fathers are known to have sexually penetrated their daughters.
The shame and stigma associated with rape cases involving close family members mean such cases are normally compromised. Therefore, instead of trivializing the hands off our girl`s campaign as some naysayers do, everyone must be vigilant in our communities to help in preventing child sexual abuse so as to eradicate such a moral morass in our society.