By: Archie Boan
The mother of a 15‑year‑old boy who was allegedly sodomized by former senior National Security Agency agent Peter Bon Jallah has broken a long silence, accusing the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of abandoning her son and leaving both of them exposed to violence and intimidation.
“The Ministry of Gender, every one of them, has failed me. They have abandoned the child with me,” the distraught mother told reporters. “The child is no longer at a safe home after Gender promised to take care of the child’s wellbeing, protection, and shelter.
It was an orphanage home that they took him to; not a safe home. Gender abandoned him. My son is with me presently now. Pus is coming out of his anus. No justice yet. I need justice for my son.”
According to the mother, after she reported the case the Ministry of Gender placed the boy in what officials described to her as a “safe home.” But she says he was later moved to a rehabilitation center around red‑light where conditions deteriorated.
“The caretaker of the rehab center and the little boy had some misunderstanding and the caretaker decided to beat him, so the boy felt insecure and escaped,” she said. Because the boy did not know his way home, the Liberia National Police (LNP) who found him along the boulevard returned him to his mother’s residence.
Fearing for their safety, the mother says she took the boy to the police station and urged officers to contact the Ministry of Gender. She says the ministry’s representative arrived and insisted the child be turned over to her, despite her warnings that her home was not safe because the alleged attack and suspected observers are in the same community.
“She insisted I take my child,” the mother said. She then took the boy to her mother’s home, but later the boy disappeared after going to visit an aunt. The family discovered he had been kidnapped by unknown men who threatened him to deny that Bon Jallah had assaulted him, she said.
‘‘They threatened the boy to deny that the alleged perpetrator is the one who did the act… they are watching his movements; anything contrary they will get rid of him to destroy evidence,’’ the mother said.
She credited the boy’s escape to “the grace of God.”
The mother described disturbing physical signs in the boy, saying pus is coming from his anus an allegation that, if true, points to severe infection and an urgent need for medical care. She said both their lives remain at risk and implored authorities for protection and swift justice.
Meanwhile, all efforts to get the Ministry of Gender response were fruitless.
