A senior Section Chief in Gbanti Chiefdom, Northern Sierra Leone, and four other men under his command have reportedly left a pregnant woman in Sawulia village unconscious after they allegedly beat and assaulted her, according to the woman, eyewitnesses, and neighbors.

On March 22nd, 2022, Kadiatu Kamara, 39, told National Debate, that she was allegedly assaulted by Pa Alimamy Conteh, the Section of Gbobana section in Gbanti Chiefdom, Bombali District, and four other unknown and unidentified men.

On the day of the alleged incident, Kadiatu Kamara said, she was coming from her farm when some workers lend tools to her. The said workers, she said were working with her tools on disputed land between the chief and some members of that community when she saw the Section chief, and the other four men forcefully gathering and taking away her tools.

“I peacefully approached the chief, greeted him, and asked where he was taking my tools to. The chief did not talk to me.  I was begging him not to take my working tools away, and as I bow down to take the tools from him, the chief pushed me. I have to fall on his motorcycle,” the woman said.

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The chief, she said then ordered his boys to beat her up. And without hesitation, she said the men beat her up and stripped her half-naked.

“The four men were beating me up while the chief stood watching. The other one kicked me on my stomach, and the other was beating me with a shovel. The chief was giving them orders to continue beating me, even when I was crying for help,” Kamara, the pregnant woman said.

While the four men were beating her, the section chief, the woman said, was saying, he’s connected, and nothing will come out of the case. She said, she started vomiting, bleeding, and later became unconscious.

“My phone and some money with me were taken away from me by his (chief) men,” she said.

 

While beating her, she said, one of the men who lent the tools from her came, though he attempted to rescue her he couldn’t withstand the men. And the men, she said, even attempted to chop her with a cutlass.

The five months old pregnant woman said, she later learned that some neighbors around intervened and rescued her. When the matter, was reported to the Panlap Police Station, she said, her witnesses were again detained when the chief alleges that the witnesses and victim together deflated her motorcycle’s tire, and they were locked up.

But the police haven’t commented on the said allegations.

The matter, she said is under investigation. But the chief, she said, isn’t taking the matter seriously.

“Police at Panlap Division issued a medical report to me, and the doctor has endorsed it. Statements have been obtained from me. But I haven’t seen any arrest been done,” she said.

When contacted by this reporter, the chief denied the allegations. Chief Pa Alimamy Conteh said, he’s a chief and how can he beat his subject.

“I’m a chief, and how can I fight or beat my subject, it’s a lie,” the chief said.

But several neighbors around confirmed that the chief and his four men assaulted the woman. One of them even confirmed that the chief later realized he has done wrong and begged the victim with Le50,000 to buy medicines. For security reasons, they all spoke on conditions of anonymity.

The matter has, however, gotten the attention of the Bombali District Human Rights Committee. Peter Conteh, the Committee Chairman said, they are closely monitoring the matter and will make sure justice is served.

The victim is a single mother with seven children. She said her jobless husband left her when she was just two months old pregnant and go for gold mining and hasn’t returned to date.