The women and children section of the Liberia National Police in Saclepea, Nimba County has charged 71-year-old Joshua Kerwon with murder for the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl recently in the country.
Suspect Kerwon, a resident of Bweh Town in District#7 was arrested along with two suspects who linked him to the act.
According to them, they saw the accused with dirt on his body, indicating that he had returned from burying someone.
He was reportedly spotted coming from the riverside where the 11-year-old victim was gang raped to death.
The deceased was a student of the Johnny Vokar High School in Saclepea, but had gone for weekend in her village, Bweh.
She had left to go wash her clothes at the river in preparation to return to Saclepea for school when she was allegedly raped, killed and subsequently buried near the riverbank.
The Gender Officer for Nimba County Madam Yar Belleh Suah notes there is an upsurge of sexual violence in the county.
She discloses that from last year up to present, violence against women has lead to death of three women, who were reportedly flogged to death by their respective husbands in acts of domestic violence, besides young girls, including kids becoming victims of rape.
Rape in Liberia is a capital offense punishable by 10 years imprisonment or death.
However, the Liberian government does not subscribe to death penalty. Editing by Jonathan Browne
