MONROVIA – The National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL) has in tears, condemned the cruel mob violence against a lady accused of being a criminal in the commercial hub of Red Light in Paynesville, outside Monrovia.
It can be recalled that the lady, only identified as Deddeh, was mercilessly flogged by angry marketers, most specifically street peddlers after it was alarmed by some unidentified persons that she had stolen, even though they fell short of indicating what she had stolen.
Video footage in the possession of this paper though did not show anything that the lady allegedly stole, the angry Red Light crowd mercilessly mobbed her after it was alerted by the few voices in the crowd “Rogue, rogue.”
Explaining her mother’s ordeal on her Facebook page, a daughter of the victim revealed that their mother had gone to the country’s biggest commercial center to buy the family’s weekly food when she encountered the unfortunate incident.
According to her, the attack was first started by a group of three boys who attempted to rather steal from her, and that in her resistance, they sudden called the crowd on her, while they sneaked out of the environment.
“Our mother went to Red Light to buy weekly food and three boys tilled her throughout. They started the conversation by asking her, who you voted for? She replied them by saying ‘yor’ better move from here. What kind of question are you asking me? My vote is my secret,” Tribeau Brown, daughter of the victim narrated.
“The other boy said if you don’t talk we will beat you and naked you and that’s just what they did. They started calling rogue, rogue on her and within no time, the entire group ran on her and started beating on her without further inquiry,” Tribeau added in tears.
The video, which has since gone viral on different social media platforms, showed that the woman was publicly stripped naked and flogged by angry crowd. During the process, she was heard crying: “My people, I am not rogue; please take me to the police and let me explain,” but no one seemed to listen to her.
In reaction to the dreadful act of violence perpetrated against the lady, NCSCL, which is the apex body of all civil society organizations in the country, issued a statement to condemn the act of lawlessness and called on police authorities to investigate the matter with high degree of urgency.
A statement issued Sunday, December 10, 2023 quotes the Chairperson of the Council Madam Loretta Alethea Pope-Kai as saying: “Our hearts are broken as lawlessness continues to be the order of the day. This other matter needs to be investigated and must be treated as a matter of urgency. The police need to watch that video and arrest those faces that are clearly identifiable.”
“Even if we are playing the devil’s advocacy role by agreeing that she stole something, this is a state of law and not man.”
