Kamakwie, Sierra Leone – A retired Dental Officer, John Kabba Dumbuya, in his seventies, has been detained by police after sharing a viral video alleging that his 110-year-old bedridden mother had been gang raped.
Dumbuya, who resides in Kamakwie, Sella Limba Chiefdom, filmed his elderly mother speaking in Limba, which he translated into English, claiming she had been attacked during the night.
In the video, Dumbuya, visibly distressed with his gray hair, tells the camera, “She is my mother. She is 110 years old.
They raped her here during the night attack which is very bad… This woman is bedridden and is very old… This Mum, she cannot even get up. She explained to them that she is my mother in the hope that maybe when she says she is my mother, they will leave her but they came inside this house, and they raped this Mum… this old Mum, they raped her here.”
However, when social workers and police detectives visited the village in response, the elderly woman denied the rape allegations.
Speaking again through interpreters in an audio obtained by this newspaper, she clarified that while male assailants did break into her bedroom and damaged her belongings, they did not sexually assault her.
“She vehemently denied being raped,” police officials stated, contradicting Dumbuya’s claims in the video.
Police have since detained Dumbuya for questioning, probing his motivations for disseminating the misleading video. Activists have called for punitive measures against individuals who make false allegations of rape, stressing the harm such actions cause.
As of press time, Dumbuya remains in police custody, with investigations ongoing.
Source: Awareness Times
