WEAJAH, Maryland – Police in the Barrobo Statutory District town of Weajah are presently in search of three men for allegedly gang raping a 13-year-old girl, resulting in her dying from the injuries.

Community members say the incident took place on July 21 during the evening   hours. The victim accused Alphonso Gaysu, 38, Geekor Matu, 42, and Roland Kwabo, 18, who lived in a home together, of carrying out the act. They were her neighbors and she often helped them by drawing water for them. The rape allegedly occurred when the victim was drawing bathing water for them on that fateful night.

According to the survivor’s father, Benson Nyanti, after the incident occurred, his daughter was ill for several days. However, she was afraid to report the incident because she said the men threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

Nyanti told The Bush Chicken in Weajah that two days after his daughter was raped, women in the town noticed that she was bleeding profusely, and she was rushed to the J. J. Dossen Memorial Hospital in Harper.

“My daughter told me that when she carried the water for her brothers – like I normally call them – to take bath, it was how the three of them jumped on her and succeeded having sex with her,” Nyanti said.

The survivor was admitted at the hospital for two weeks and later went home. However, a few days later, her bleeding started again but due to the family’s distance from a health facility Nyanti’s daughter died on Sunday August 5, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. as plans were being made to take her to Harper.

All but one of the suspects are on the run and the corpse of the girl has since been buried by family members in the district. Roland Kwabo, a sixth-grade student at the East Harper Public School, is the only suspect authorities have in custody. However, he denies the accusation.

Barrobo Statutory District holds a population of a little over 8,000 and a police station situated in Glofaken has only three police officers assigned in the area.

The general town chief of Glofaken, William Seaford, told The Bush Chicken that the police department will be sending a communication to the county superintendent to increase the number of police officers assigned in the district, as he believes it will help to curtail crimes.

“We are not happy every day with bad news coming from our district, but I think from this point we will begin to start by engaging the local authority and getting our [community] watch forum people [to] also help us in the district,” he said.

Meanwhile, the head of the Maryland Civil Society Organizations, a grouping of CSOs in the county, has strongly condemned the gang rape that has led to the minor’s death. Lucy Jappy Momo called on the police to launch a search for the men to bring them to justice.

In 2017, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection reported that 1,685 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were reported across the country. But experts in the field say the statistics likely do not reflect the actual number as few women and girls are willing to report abuse due to a variety of issues.