GBARNGA, Bong – Police in Bong have charged and forwarded to court the city solicitor of the Salala Magisterial Court, Edwin Kopoi, for allegedly raping his 16-year-old cousin.

Police charged the 37-year-old suspect with statutory rape, simple assault, and human trafficking. Kopoi is being detained at the Gbarnga Central Prison pending trial while the child is in a safe home in Bong.

The police investigation found that Kopoi allegedly committed the crime on July 9 in Salala, where he is assigned.

The victim told the police that in February of this year, Kopoi brought her from Sierra Leone to Liberia to stay with him while attending school. However, he refused to send her to school upon her arrival in Liberia.

The victim, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, informed the police that Kopoi raped her for the first time in Monrovia on their way from Sierra Leone.

She told the police that her uncle frequently stripped her naked and beat her whenever she did something wrong in the home.

She told the police that Kopoi also gave her alcoholic beverages to drink before having sex with her, and he would threaten to kill her if she told anyone. The victim said she reported her uncle to some community members because she could no longer bear the abuse.

Kopoi admitted to beating and stripping the victim naked many times but denied having sex with her.

Meanwhile, the police charge sheet revealed that Kopoi’s charges were based on the evidence, scars on the victim’s body, testimonies from witnesses, and medical reports.

Featured photo by Patrick Tokpah