By Abdulrahman Karama
Mary Koroma, a resident of No. 2 Cowan Drive Malama Lumley in Freetown left for the residence of her Aunt Madam Fatu Sesay at Pata Bana village in Makeni Town to answer her call for help to take care of her sick mother, who has been ill for a long period of time.
Upon her arrival, and seeing the condition of her mother, she requested from her aunt that her mother be taken to Freetown for better medical attention, but this request was denied on the grounds that the members of the secret society will not let her go because she is the leader of the secret society (sowie) and she was undergoing some traditional medical treatments. After an anxious period of waiting for her recovery, she finally passed away on 1st September 2020.
At her death, Mary koroma was taken together with the remains of her mother to the society shrine for some secret ritual. She noticed that the head of her mother was then cut off in her presence and this was given to her to put in a sacred place in the shrine.
After the burial ceremony, they told her aunt that Mary should replace her mother as the leader of the secret society (Bondo). This message was relayed to her by her aunt, to which she declined, siting that her faith as a Christian prevents her from such satanic practices. One fateful night, when she was waiting to observe her mother’s fortieth day funeral rites, in accordance with the usual practice of religions in the country, a huge group of people came to their house and entered into her room, abducted her and took her to the secret society shrine in the forest for initiation.
They then commenced the initiation ceremony, which involved making cuttings/markings on her body with unsterilized knife. She was forced to drink some concoction said to be society medicine. During the process of initiation, she was tied to a big stick in the middle of the society bush and tortured. This went on for quite some time.
Fortunately, in connivance with her husband, a member of the society (name withheld) managed to escape with her through the bush to a spot where her husband was waiting. They both then left the forest for Guinea around the 10th September 2020.
