|
|
Description
Esther Glain was hanging out at a soccer match outside Monrovia, Liberia's capital city, when the car came barreling toward her group of friends.
With the SUV so close that she barely had room to move, Glain shouted at the driver, confronting him about what he had done.
But behind the wheel was the former Executive Protection Service (EPS) Deputy Director for Operations, Darlington George. He lashed out, Esther said, beating her with his hand and feet.
Soon, Glain was on the ground, blood gushing from a deep gash on her head. Someone from the car had hit her with a glass bottle.
The Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (you can see the GPFA on CommonCollection and donate directly to it here: ) founded by the 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Madam Leymah Gbowee, stated in a press release from the foundation : ‘We have come to the end of the rope in this phase of the case and can only urge the Liberian National Police to not deviate from the natural life of this case. We want justice and we will get justice.” […]the Foundation and lawyers representing Ms. Glain has remained patient and continue to fully cooperate with the Government of Liberia to ensure that the case is properly investigated and taken to court. However, what is becoming increasingly evident is that the LNP has accorded special privileges to a former colleague, which could eventually jeopardize the outcome of the case. […] We take no pleasure in noting that it has taken sustained pressure from the Foundation, Lawyers, women advocates and civil society organizations to bring us to the point where the Police has finally decided to take Mr. George to court.”
In an article written by reporter Edwin Genoway, it is said: “The National Youth League of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change during the case absent from court reaffirmed its condemnation of the act of brutality allegedly committed by George and is calling for the victim to be flown out for an advanced medical attention with President Sirleaf taking full responsibility of the medical bills.
Jefferson Kojee said it is highly regrettable that while a victim is undergoing urgent and costly medical attention at the expense of her already impoverished family, the President chooses to restrict her intervention to dismissal of the EPS Director.
The Youth League in its statement Monday September 22, 2015 challenged the President to begin to take full responsibility for the actions of all her security officials. "Darlington George is not the first and the trend does not suggest that he would be the last, there are still moaning souls crying for redress after brutality by Marc Amblard and Al Karlay against MCSS students, when nothing was done about that. These same individuals went out and committed the murderous incursion on the CDC headquarters on November 7, 2011," the statement indicated. Many believe George who has a history of brutality might walk free based on his connections in security circle.” (Read the whole article here: http://frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/6316-shielding-monster-police-lawyers-give-conflicting-accounts )
This incident got spread with the help of social media from friends in outrage (https://www.facebook.com/georgia.genoway/posts/1147368245277515) and new friends who saw, commented and shared this frustration.
Reporter Peter N. Toby writes: ”On October 19, 2015, police charged defendant Darlington George with sample assault and criminal facilitation while James Tamba was charged with aggravated assaulted and criminal attempt to murder”.
In closing remarks, the press release from GPFA states:
“We will continue to pursue this case and other cases of violence against women in this country. The case of Ms. Esther Glain will not be the only one. We will continue to identify with the less privileged members of our community. We will not relent in pursuing this case to the end and ensuring that for once justice is served in a case of a government official meting out violence against a citizen, under cover of being privileged by their “position of authority”.
LET US REMEMBER THAT “JUSTICE DELAYED, IS SIMPLY, JUSTICE DENIED”! “
Madam Gbowee also stated in an interview with Peter N. Toby: “Most times when people are acting it’s […] most times people want to act behind the scenes. I just want to make it emphatically clear that the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, especially my office as the president and a life-long women’s rights advocate, is in the full front of the Esther Glain case. We will use whatever resources […] at our disposal to ensure that justice is served. You know over the last few years, a lot of abuses – police brutality, human rights violations – and this government, sometimes people shy away from speaking because of the perceived international favor that the government has; and I think in these last months leading to a new government coming into office, we shouldn’t let it slide.
“It’s time for all of us Liberians – those who have been silent and those of us who have been vocal, to become even more vocal about some of these things. The one thing that is really upsetting to me beyond the brutality that was meted, is the hypocrisy around […] it is the hypocrisy around the apparent dismissal of Mr. Darlington George.
You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.nanews.net/news/gbowee-foundation-supports-assault-victim/
This case will be used for the trial and medical care of Esther Glain.
|
|
|
|
|
Williametta Piso
|
Email-address
|
|
|
Profile photo comparison
|
|
|
Address
|
Lives here
Monrovia, Liberia
|
|
|
|