Photo above: AFELL President Vivian Neal
–Calls for steps in securing citizens
By Mark N. Mengonfia
The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia, AFELL is calling on the Liberian government to treat the recent rape case of a minor in a Monrovia suburb with urgency by speeding up the investigation.
On December 13, 2018, little Vivian Wright, age 15 was allegedly raped to death by some unknown individuals in the New Georgia Oldfield Community in Gardnersville.
In a statement released in Monrovia by the AFELL, the group of women lawyers said “the heinous crime committed against the victim is a felony of the first degree because the child was less than 18 years old”.
The president of the Female Lawyers, Atty. Vivian Neal in the statement described the act committed against the child as barbaric, savage, grievous and uncivilized.
The institution of women lawyers further lamented on the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence in Liberia despite the enhancement of Rape Law in 2006 where in rape has been elevated to the grade of a felony with life imprisonment being the maximum sentence for fist degree rape.
Atty. Neal has also called upon the government to take steps to enhance security in the country in order to put a halt to what they called madness and secure the integrity of the persons of women and girls.
Information gathered on the scene, the victim, identified as Vivian Wright, age 15 New Georgia Community left her home on the 13th of December 2018 and did not return until her body was discovered lying near a white fence at the back of a compound said to be owned by Mr. and Mrs. Thonkollie.