Sierra Leone’s Minister of Works, Dennis Sandy has been accused of an attempted by his step-daughter, Amira Koroma.

Koroma, who is now residing in the US, shared her ordeal on her Facebook page stating that the Minister attempted to rape her when she was an 8-year-old.

“I survived an attempted rape by my step dad, who is the current Minister of Works, twice Minister of Lands and the irony is that this man who was the Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs,” the activist said.

Koroma, who is now a gender activist and feminist said she has been quiet over the issue after receiving series of threats from her step father and some government officials.

“I received a series of threats from government officials from my home country (Sierra Leone) including my step father and quiet recently he made a threat that he will ensure that he wipes not only me but my entire family,” Koroma said.

She added that she is forced to come out after Sandy also attempted to rape her younger sister. The activist described her life with Sandy as undergoing “the worst torture” for 17 years. She also accused the Minister of physically abusing her mother since they got married in 2007.

“It has been a whole journey full of sadness, pain, beating, torture and abuse,” she said.

Koroma said that people close her are aware of the actions of her step father especially the physical abuse her mother suffered. Minister Sandy, she said, denied the allegations claiming that she and sister want to tarnish his image. But the activist encouraged the government to corroborate her claim through a polygraph test.

“I have some excerpts from some of the recordings of his brother and him (Sandy) asking my people that I make a statement that what I said was out of anger,” she said. She added that she disagreed to their request and went on to public denounce him.

Friends reacting to the video, sympathised with her encouraging her to be strong while some called for action against Sandy.

Sierra Leone repealed its sexual laws in 2019, making it one of the toughest laws in the African region. Convicts guilty of sexual crimes often spend long years in one of the worst prisons in the world.