By Foday Moriba Conteh
According to the autopsy report dated 16th January, 2023 issued by the Consultant Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, it was confirmed that a 14 years old JSS 3 Pupil, Theresa Tarawallie, of Keinsay Community in Koidu City, Kono District, died as a result of an Hypovolaemic Shock leading to chronic blood loss (prolonged bleeding) for 14 days due to Female Genital Mutilation.
It could be recalled that the Tankoro Police Divisional Headquarter in Koidu City was investigating an alleged murder of a 14 years old girl by the name of Theresa Tarawallie as a result of Female Genital Mutilation which said incident occurred in Keinsay Community, Koidu City on the 9th January, 2023.
According to what this medium learnt, the Sierra Leone Police arrested the uncle of the late Theresa Tarawallie who is currently in their custody but the Bondo Society ‘Sowei’ or Head was reported to be on the run.
It was further understood that Theresa Tarawallie (the deceased) met her untimely death on Monday, 9th January, 2023 after she was forced to be initiated and up to the point of her death she was residing with her uncle in Kensay Community in Koidu town.
Relatives of the deceased had wanted to sweep the issue under the carpet and secretly bury the girl when the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) in Koidu town intervened.
The SLP acted on intelligence and forestalled the burial ceremony after taking the decision for the corpse to be taken to Freetown for proper postmortem in order to determine what led to the Theresa’s early death.
Postmortem examination was done on Monday 16th January 2023 by the Consultant Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, who confirmed that the 14 years old Theresa Tarawallie died as a result of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
It must be noted that Sierra Leone has made commitments under various international protocols and conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) all geared towards eliminating the practice in the country.
According to Article 24 of the CRC, “States parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.” Similarly, Article 5 of CEDAW requests Governments to abolish traditions and practices that are discriminatory to women and girls and to modify social and cultural practices based on the notion of female inferiority. In addition, the United Nations CEDAW Committee issued a general recommendation No 14:“Female Circumcision-FGM-Female Genital Mutilation” during the ninth session in 1990, and called on States parties to “take appropriate and effective measures with a view to eradicating the practice of female circumcision”.
However, despite the fact that Sierra Leone is a signatory to the aforementioned protocols failure to condemn the practice in the country has led to serious human right violations.
