-11th Judicial Circuit Court Condemns 2 23-Yr-Olds for Gang Rape & Sodomy

IPNEWS – Monrovia – The Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Tubmanburg, Bomi County has sentenced Defendants Abdullah Sheriff and David Onanah, both 23 years old, to 30 years imprisonment each.

The court condemned the men to three decades of confinement after they were found guilty on four counts: gang rape, involuntary sodomy, and sexual and criminal conspiracy.

The two men, one a high school graduate, the other a 12 grader, will now have to spend the next 3 decades in prison depending on how well behaved they live their prison lives.

Presiding Judge Peter Gbeneweleh sentenced the two men at the end of the trials, which lasted for a month.

Sheriff and Onanah were arrested by the police in May 2022; they were investigated, charged, and sent to court for prosecution based on a complaint from a victim, whose name we can’t reveal because of the stigma associated with such cases.

Giving her testimony, the victim stated that on the day of her birthday, she had gone to the Planet 44 Night Club in Tubmanburg, a bar, to celebrate her birthday when she encountered the two Shefiff and Onanah, who both offered her alcoholic beverages. According to her and not being exact, the drinks might have worth close to L$5000 and she became intoxicated.

She further said the two men induced and made her drunk which led to be being comatose and they took her to Onanah’s room, where they did what they had planned to do to her.

The victim narrated further that when she became conscious the next morning, she found herself lying naked next to Onanah in his room.

“I asked what I am doing and here? He told me that I was drunk, and he brought me to his room which was not far from the club. Then he said, ‘It already has happened oh; let’s it stay in my room.’”

She disclosed that on Monday, May 16, 2022, after the incident, one Varney C. Sekou, a student of the Anderson Weanah Methodist High School in Tubmanburg, called and told her that Onanah had her naked photo in his phone and had been showing it to them on the school campus. This made her to take his complaint officers of the Liberia National Police, who immediately went and apprehended him and Sheriff.

When both men were taken to court, they pleaded not guilty; they also waived to be tried by a jury.

During their respective testimonies on the witness stand, Defendant David Onanah told the court that he and Sheriff were at Planet 44 on May 22, 2022, where the victim met Sheriff and told him about her birthday. He further stated that the victim had said that any man who could offer her drinks on her birthday would spend the night with her. So, it was it that made Sheriff to purchase drinks worth L$5,000 to L$6,000.

Defendant Onanah indicated that Sheriff wanted to sleep at her place, but she refused and said her son was in the room. According to him, he escorted his friend and the victim to the Red Cross Guest House for them to spend the night there, but the place was closed. He then decided to offer his room to them. “They slept there; he told the next day that they never sexed her because she refused.”

Testifying too, Sheriff, said he went to Planet 44 where he met David Onanah and later David introduced the victim to him.

According to him, the victim informed him of her birthday and added that any man who buys her drinks will spend the night with her, this is how he bought the drinks.

He narrated that he asked the victim to spend the night with him in her room but stated that her son was in the room and so he took her to the Red Cross Guest House, and it was closed. His friend Onanah then offered him his room and they slept but she refused to have sexual intercourse with him.

According to him, a day or so after, he only saw his friend coming with a police officer and he ws arrested.

Before he had handed down his verdict against the men, Judge Gbeneweleh stated that once the two defendants had access to the victim in the room in succession and with the facts and circumstances in the case, including medical report, in the mind of the court, the defendants had sexual intercourse with the victim.

Four witnesses, including, the victim, student Varney Sekou, Geraldine Mambu, a medical physician at the Government Hospital in Tubmanburg, Armstrong Wonleh, Chief Inspector of Police For Crimes Services Department in Bomi County, had testified for the prosecution. The defense only had Sheriff and Onanah as their witnesses.

“Wherefore and in view of the foregoing, it is the ruling of the court that Defendants Abdullah Sheriff and David Onanah are hereby sentenced to 30 years imprisonment each for the commission of gang rape, rape, involuntary sodomy, sexual assault and criminal conspiracy,” said Judge Gbeneweleh. The judge further said the defendants’ sentence could be reduced based on good behavior.

Following the ruling, the defense counsel excepted and announced an appeal to the Supreme Court during its October 2022 Term of Court while the defendants remained behind bars.