Sierra Leone News: Three Women in Custody for Child Cruelty

By Abu Bakarr Munu

Three women are being held in custody at the Masiaka Police Station in the Koya Chiefdom, north/west of Sierra Leone, on allegation of child cruelty.

The three, Madam Anita Mansaray, the child’s guardian, and two of her siblings Rugiatu and Kadiatu were taken to the Mile 38 Police Post at Magbotoso last Friday for questing by personnel attached to the Family Support Unit (FSU) following intelligence from one Alhassan Sesay, a social worker attached to the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs (MSWGCA), Port Loko office, they had subjected a child to cruelty.

Alhassan Sesay, a native of Lower Koya Chiefdom told Premier News that, was in the village to see his siblings when he came in contact with Osman (not his real name), 5, whose hands were badly damaged.

Sesay said after interrogation, the boy told him that his aunty forcefully grabbed his hands and placed them over a fire after he was accused of dipping his fingers into a reserved soup.

The social worker said he then took the child to the Mile 38 police post, after failed attempts to find the boy’s aunt and the head of the household.

He explained that by the time they return to the house together with the police, the accused persons had kept the child in a Poro society bush for almost the rest of the day without food. “But with the help of other players including the Chairman of the Local Police Partnership Board (LPPB) Abu Bakarr Koroma, the child was brought out of the bush,” Sesay said.

The three accused persons are helping the Masiaka police with the investigation.