PHOTO: Miss Tiangeh Taylor
By Emmanuel Mafelah, mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
GBARNGA, Liberia- In the wake of the upsurge in the number of rape incidents across this country, the Executive Director of Impart Girls Liberia, Tiangeh Taylor has called for tougher punishment for rapists.
The Impart Girls Liberia CEO said it is “completely heartless” for individuals to sexually be harassing women; maintaining that if tougher punishment is prescribed for perpetrators, there will be a reduction in the number rape cases in the Country.
Miss Taylor recommends life imprisonment or castration for perpetrators of rape; stating that this will serve as deterrence for violators.
She questioned whether men involved in such acts are doing it for ritual purposes or sexual feeling.
Miss. Taylor further said there are lots of girls in the street who are selling themselves, why these rapists cannot go after them, instead of violating the rights of innocent girls by sexually abusing them.
The young female child rights advocate condemned the recent case in Gbarpolu involving a three-year-old girl whose private part was cut with razorblade for forceful penetration by a 17-year-old boy.
Miss. Taylor recommends the enactment of legal framework that will bring penalty on parents who may want to compromise rape cases, as well door to door awareness as some needed measures to minimize rape in the country.
From January to June this year, there have been more than six hundred rape cases reported in Liberia, including aggravated assault, a Statistics from the Bureau of Corrections at the Ministry of Justice shows.