By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
While Valentine’s Day was being celebrated last Sunday, it has now emerged that a man allegedly raped an elderly woman in northwestern Gbarpolu County, over 208 kilometers from Monrovia.
Police in Gbapolu are interrogating a 34-year-old man for the reported rape of a seemingly paralyzed and helpless elderly woman.
Rape is a nonbailable crime in Liberia and there has been an upsurge of this menace in the country in recent time. President George Weah last year declared rape a national emergency.
The victim, said to be in her eighties, is speechless and deaf due to her prolong illness.
Thomas Massaquoi was arrested by community members after it was found he had entered the victim’s room and had something to do with her on February 14, 2021 in Gbaquoi town.
On the night of the incident, the the elderly woman was heard screaming in her room, thus causing people to rush in only to see the accused stepping out and putting on his trousers.
He denied he an affair with the victim but that he had been with another girl; an epilepsy patient whom he failed to identify.
Additional information gathered on the defendant indicates he had been accused of rape on several occasions on the Kpo Mining Camp also in Gbapolu.
Medical records from the Chief Jallahlone referral hospital showed that the 86 years old was sexually abused.
He is remanded at the Gbapolu Central Prison, having been formally charged with rape.