PHOTO: Suspect Edward Knight
By Charles Gbayor, maorethason1997@gmail.com
HARPER, Liberia- A 38-year-old man has been incarcerated in the southeastern city of Harper, for allegedly sodomizing a boy, age 12 recently.
Suspect Edward D. Knight, aka “Adebaryo”, is a shopkeeper and resident of Harper City’s Larma Cox community.
Sodomy is a crime in Liberia and it constitutes rape, with the rape law making the crime nonbailable.
On Friday, September 24, 2021, the parents of the victim alerted the Women and Children Protection Section of the Liberia National Police in Harper that their son had been sexually abused by Suspect Knight.
The minor was immediately rushed to a nearby health center in the county for examination, when health personnel confirmed penetration in the boy’s anus..
Narrating the entire ordeal to reporters in Harper, the child said that he had gone to buy pepper for his grandmother at a local shop operated by Suspect, when Edward Knight asked for his assistance to get him some water to drink.
But the boy explained that he quickly insisted that his grandmother was waiting for the pepper that he had gone to buy.
Knight then agreed but insisted that the boy should return after giving the pepper to his grandmother.
The victim further narrated that after delivering the paper to his grandmother, he returned quickly to assist Suspect Knight. But the defendant asked him to come back again, this time at night, citing that someone had already assisted him with some water to drink.
“When I came back, he (Adebaryo) asked me to come behind the counter in the shop and said I should take off my clothes; then he took off his clothes too,” the little boy disclosed.
“He told me not to talk and promised to give me money and bread. That is how he put his ‘toto’ (penis) in my butt and I started crying. He later took it from there and said he didn’t enjoy it good; that I should come back next time so he can enjoy himself good, good.”
The 12-year-old boy explained further that suspect Knight warned him not to tell anybody or else, he will die, so he kept silent.
However, after few days, he felt pain in his stomach, so he immediately informed his grandmother about the incident.
The Grandmother, Felecia Doe was totally broken upon observing the situation and later took the child for medical examination, when health personnel then diagnosed that the minor had been sexually abused.
Grandma Doe is worried about her grandchild’s health and future and called on well-meaning individuals to help her get justice to deter such practice from the Liberian society.
Defendant Knight was initially arraigned before the Harper Magisterial Court on Monday, September 27, 2021, for a preliminary hearing before being forwarded to the circuit court, on grounds that the case is beyond the lower court’s jurisdiction.
Suspect Knight denies allegation
Though the suspect denied the allegation when he was arrested by the Liberia National Police Detachment in Harper, he spent a night behind bar before the Police forwarded him to the Magisterial Court.
The case will be transferred to the 4th Judiciary Circuit Court during the November Term of Court for trial.
Sodomy is a breach of Section 14.70 of the Revised Rape law of Liberia which states that a person who has sexual intercourse with another (Male or Female) has committed rape if; (a) He intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus, mouth, or any other opening of another person (Male or female) with his penis without the victim’s consent.
Penalties include life imprisonment or 10 years sentence, depending on the gravity of the crime