PHOTO: Court Bailiff Joseph Ponpon said to have broken the law
By Charles Gbayor, maorethason1997@gmail.com
PLEEBO, Liberia- The Assigned Bailiff at the Gedetarbo Magisterial Court in Pleebo near the southeastern County of Maryland has been arrested by the National Police Detachment and charged for his alleged involvement in a reported gang rape.
“A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French baillis, bail “custody”) is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offices and duties vary greatly,” according to Wikipedia.
This www.newspublictrust.com Correspondent here has gathered that, Joseph Ponpon, age 37, was arrested, investigated and charged with being involved in the gang rape of a 13-year-old minor, as rape and other forms of domestic violence have gone on the rise in Liberia in recent times.
Rape is a nonbailable crime in the country and due to the upsurge in the act, President George Manneh Weah sometime ago declared it “a national emergency”.
The charge is in keeping with section 14.73 of new penal code law of Liberia.
The crime was said to have been last month (October 2022) at the Zone 8 community, in Pleebo district.
According to Police charge sheet, the alleged perpetrator, Ponpon visited his neighbor Alphonso Togba, when he came across the victim expressing his feeling of having an affair with her, but the victim reportedly refused.
Despite of the victim’s refusal, the accused reportedly went ahead to make love with her, however, Police charge sheet also quoted the victim and family members of alleging that the perpetrator committed the act with his friend.
Alphonso Togba in early October 2022 invited the survivor to Ponpon’s residence where he allegedly committed the act.
Police charge sheet also revealed that the alleged perpetrator, Court Bailiff Joseph Ponpon gave the survivor a cellphone with Three Thousand Liberian Dollars, asking her not to tell anyone about the act committed by him.
Police charge sheet from the Women and Social Protection Section in Pleebo, the medical reports from the Pleebo Health Center have proven that the girl was sexually tempered with.
Meanwhile, Police charge has also indicated that the alleged perpetrator Joseph Ponpon denied all allegations against him, stating that he did not commit such act levied against him by the minor.
But Police have charged both the Court Bailiff and his friend, Alphonso Togba with gang rape, because the latter had aided Ponpon to commit such crime.
The victim is however, undergoing medical treatment at the Pleebo Health Center.