Liberia: SOS plea for single mom stripped naked, then beaten, sexually molested by group of men

How U.S. President Joe Biden’s support for an African corrupt tyrant in disguise, may backfire on Democrats during the next U.S. presidential elections.  

By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher|editor@globalekklesia.com

Reporting from Jacksonville, Florida

Even as George Weah, Liberia’s president prepares to leave office next January-having lost a well-contested election last November to Amb. Joe Boakai-excesses of his regime like lawlessness and mob violence continue to pile up with no end in sight!

The latest victim, a young lady identified as Deddeh Simonds, is fighting for survival due to severe injuries from the brutal attack as medical doctors in the capital, Monrovia struggle to keep her in stable condition. 

It is reported by some local dailies that around four to five, or more men rushed and confronted the single mom of several children, as she strolled alone along the street. They then openly naked her, before mercilessly flogging and sexually molesting her. 

No one from among a group of bystanders that filmed the heinous acts intervene, even as the helpless woman cried out for help, which indicates the ordeal may have been yet another targeted incident and may have a link with pro-Weah-government insider operators. 

Local papers said it happened December 10, at Red Light, Paynesville, a large commercial district considered a crime-prone neighborhood that has seen its fair share of violent crimes against women such as rape and murder since Weah took power. 

This terrifying incident, like most others, during Weah’s six-year rule, has caught national attention because of the intensity of the brutality against the woman and has also prompted a strong condemnation from few prominent people in society, the newly elected president, Amb. Joseph Boakai. 

A bunch of pictures taken of the victim, Deddeh Simonds, soon after the horrifying attacks, showed multiple wounds on her forehead and body, and with blood profusely oozing from her head, particularly around the left eye.

Reports on the attack are still riddled with ambiguity. However, Global Ekklesia has gathered that Deddeh’s assailants may have known her; that their cruel action was reportedly kindled by an official within Weah’s regime which remains unconfirmed. 

Moments before the gruesome acts, the assailants, claiming to be “Motorbike riders,” reportedly surrounded the victim and shouted: “rouge”, alleging she had “stolen” a bike, tactics that pro-George Weah supporters and thugs alike now used in the city to dissuade people from intervening on behalf of victims when they launch such malicious assaults on someone. 

Members of the “Motorbike riders association” (now at the center of this investigation), consist of young men who live throughout the country, earning their livelihood from commercial biking which has become a huge business in Monrovia, after two civil wars in the 90s and 2000s.  

Amid acute job shortages in the nation, coupled with lack of vocational centers to train young people (many of whom fought for rebel factions and now drug-dependent), commercial biking has attracted punks and thugs in the last decades and some now use their bikes to escape after committing a crime as was in this case. 

Head of the country’s female lawyers association (AFELL), one Atty. Philomena Williams, outraged by this egregious incident that occurred in the full glare of the public, strongly condemned it and vowed to join other civil society human rights groups and activists so they can press for answers. 

“Deddeh was stripped naked, severely beaten and sexually assaulted by mob men under the defense of mistaken identity,” she told a group of Liberians who attended a seminar during the week on how to prevent Gender based violence (GBV) organized by a Dutch group, reported one local paper. 

Newly elected President Joseph Boakai, swiftly reacted to the incident, referring to it as “unLiberian,” according to a local daily, The News which quoted from a dispatch issued by Boakai’s new presidential team currently touring the U.S.  

“It is regrettable that several people would standby with cameras and not swiftly intervene to rescue the woman from the mob violence,” the dispatch reported and called out the ministry of justice and the police to arrest, investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of such violent acts against Deddeh.

Although the police is said to have apprehended some of the alleged perpetrators in the Deddeh case, many people suspect it’s very unlikely the police and justice ministry will prosecute culprits of this heinous crime let alone punish doers especially if there was a “big hand” behind the Deddeh near murdered incident. 

Though Deddeh’s ordeal may appear to be shocking, it’s not rare in Liberia and some think she may be blessed to be alive for countless have gone down in similar fashion with no trace, leaving families heartbroken all due to lack of a fair justice system in the country, thereby relegating criminal cases that involved their relatives to the “unsolved” files. 

People attribute the rise in GBV to the Weah administration’s apparent failure to take drastic action aimed to mitigate the violence. They think that’s so because some are being carried out with Weah’s acquiescence thus making it difficult for him to promptly press the corrupt police force, court system, and the justice ministry to have cases fairly adjudicated.  

Whatever the case, Weah’s D.C. lobbyists have managed to at least convince the so-called international community, using deception that all seems well in Liberia. An example of this came when he addressed the UN New York assembly September 2022, and boasted that “democracy in Liberia continues to move from strength to strength” and claimed it’s “becoming a safe haven of peace and democracy.”  

But while he threw the country into chaos, drastically cutting civil servants’ salaries by more than half, the Biden administration accorded him a warm White House style welcome in D.C. and treated the dictator to sumptuous “tete-a-tete” that befits a statesman as both shot selfies.  

But what President Joe Biden and his fellow democrat officials seem ignorant about is, they may eventually pay for such political errors at the ballot come the next presidential elections.

Meanwhile, social commentator Ysyndi Martin-Kpeyei has begun a campaign asking everyone to place a call to phone# 713-655-0050, or send letters via Yuroba.Harris1@mail.house.gov, on behalf of Deddeh Simonds requesting a visa to allow her to get medical help abroad, an apparent indication that local doctors are unable to properly treat her condition. 

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James Kokulo Fasuekoi is an award-winning journalist, author, documentary writer and news photographer. He previously covered civil wars in West Africa for several news media including The Associated Press. Listed on his college’s Dean’s List for academic excellence, he became a Bush Foundation Scholar twice in 2017. His work as a civil war journalist has also brought him face-to-face with the law in his native Liberia, and in the US, where the Fed had him subpoenaed twice to stand as states witness in two major Liberian ‘war crimes trials’ of 2017 & 2018 in Philadelphia. Once an African national ballet dancer, he now writes, photographs and dances for Christ. Read profile @ https://globalekklesia.com/profile/