By Garmah Never Lomo,garmahlomo@gmail.com
In the buildup to the July 26 celebrations, an 8-year-old girl in Liberia’s southeastern Grand Gedeh County became one the latest victims of rape, with the alleged culprit being a Christian cleric.
Reports from the area say the New Hope Assembly of God Church in Zwedru city, Grand Gedeh identified as Trawane Kayeah, age 46 has allegedly raped the eight-year-old child. Rape is a non-bailable offense in Liberia.
According to the information gathered the pastor, who lives in the same community with the victim’s parents, has been arrested and charged with Statutory rape by the Liberia National Police (LNP).
The alleged rape was committed on July 23, 2019, in a local community in Zwedru City.
Information surrounding the rape incident disclosed that the victim’s mother left her in the yard and went to fetch water at a hand pump that is far away from their house, when the alleged perpetrator Kayeah called the victim to his room. He then allegedly used his finger which penetrated the victim’s private part.
After pastor Kayeah had allegedly replaced his penis with his finger, the victim was unable to walk and just sitting one place crying.
But when her mother asked her what she was crying for, she told her mother that the Pastor used his finger between her legs.
However, when her mother told her to come to her, she told her mother that she could not walk and the little girl began shouting for the help of other dwellers.
The mother further said that she shouted, prompting her sister to hurriedly rushed the victim to the Martha Tubman Memorial referral hospital in Zwedru, where it was confirmed that she was tempered with by huge penetration.
Explaining in frustration, the aunty of the victim said the pastor is capable of doing that because at one point in time, he called her to his room, and being a man of God, she never refused. But when she entered the pastor’s room, he again began touching breast and private part, something she conceived because according to her it was shameful.
The pastor, who is shaky marriage, is said to be in the habit of rubbing the behind of females who pass by him. His wife has since moved to Monrovia due to the behavior of the pastor, it is claimed.
Meanwhile, Trawane Kayeah has been arrested and charged with Statutory rape by the Liberia National Police, through the women and children protection department and is now forwarded to court.
At the same time, his 8-year-old alleged victim has been told to visit the hospital every day for medical treatment until her condition improves.