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The boys, aged between nine and fourteen and also refugees from Liberia, then held the girl down and took it in turn to sexually assault her.
As if this wasn't enough of an ordeal, the girl's family refused to take her back once they found out about the crime - because her actions had 'shamed them'.
The case has provoked widespread condemnation across America and even Liberia.
From The Telegraph:
Ordinary Americans have offered to adopt an eight-year-old Liberian girl who was raped by four boys in Arizona and then disowned by her family because she had "shamed" them.This story teaches us much about the importation of completely alien cultural values.The case has caused horror in both the United States and Liberia after it emerged that the girl's family did not want to care for her after she was attacked by the boys, also Liberian immigrants, who were aged between nine and 14.
Police officers responding to screams from an empty shed in an apartment complex in Phoenix last week found the partially-clothed girl and four boys running away.
The boys had lured the girl into the shed with the offer of chewing gum. They held her down and took turns raping her for about 10 to 15 minutes, according to Phoenix police.
The girl is now in the custody of Arizona Child Protective Services (CPS). Police said no charges will be filed against the parents.
"They didn't abandon the child," Phoenix police sergeant Andy Hill said. "They committed no crime. They just didn't support the child, which led to CPS coming over there."
"This is a deeply disturbing case that has gripped our community," said Maricopa County attorney Andrew Thomas. "Our office will seek justice for the young victim in this heartrending situation."
The case also drew condemnation from Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the president of Liberia and an outspoken campaigner against rape.
"I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatised," she told CNN.
"They, too, need serious counselling because clearly they are doing something, something that is no longer acceptable in our society here," she added.
The oldest boy, a 14 year-old, will be tried as an adult on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault.
The other three boys - aged 9, 10, and 13 - were charged as juveniles with sexual assault and kidnapping.
"We've had young people who have been victims of sexual assault, but the thing that distinguishes this is the age of the victim, the age of the suspects and the response of the parents," Mr Hill said.
Well-wishers from California to Maine have called, wanting to adopt the child or give money for her welfare, Mr Hill said.
"It's been unbelievably fantastic in terms of support for the child," he said. "People from eight or nine states have called."
If these people don't understand basic human emotions such as supporting their own child after she is the victim of a despicable crime, then in what sense were they ever fit to be resettled in a civilised country?
If they don't even owe decency to their own flesh and blood, then what could they possibly give to the society which took them in?
This case is disturbing in many different ways, but it is primarily a glimpse of just what we have invited into our midst.
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8 comments:
More like animals than humans!
Liberia - Christian History
"The Liberian founding fathers were composed of Protestant ministers who created their nation as a Christian state with laws explicitly crafted using Christian principles. However, the constitution also afforded protection for all other religions, which was particularly important for the vast majority of Liberia's population—native Africans who followed their traditional beliefs and practices."
"As if Christianity in Liberia hasn't suffered enough from corruption both within and also outside the churches, syncretism has threatened biblical faith. Secret societies and ancestor veneration continue to influence the nation's psyche. According to Operation World, "Freemasonry imported by the early settlers fused with indigenous tribal secret societies to become a pervasive influence that has corrupted and compromised politics and nearly every denomination, whether mainline, evangelical, or Pentecostal."
christianitytoday.com
The Joshua Project has a chart of how very Christian a great part of Liberia is and you can find a very interesting breakup at : http://www.joshuaproject.net/countries.php?rog3=LI
As for the disgusting event, remember that under the dictator Charles Taylor, children were used as soldiers and rape was used as a punishment to communities who supported the opposition. It is possible - I certainly cannot confirm it and is not an excuse - that these children partook or grew up with war and rape as a part of life.
Either way it is disgusting.
Solkhar,
Are you suggesting that Christianity is somehow responsible for the actions of those described in the article above?
If not, what is the point you are trying to make?
Derius, I make no links to a religion having responsibility for the horrors of mankind, unlike blogs like this one does.
What I am stating here is a question for you all to consider - for a country with a rather high rate of Christianity, why so much horrors?
Add to that, the logical next question - why is it that if this was a Muslim country this and other extreme right-wing agenda blogs would go out of the way to claim it is faith?
Because, in the end the answer is also the same - it is man, not the tennants of religion this is responsible, if they claim it to be or not themselves.
Solkhar:
I too wonder what your point is, as I have not suggested this is related to Islam.
A few points:
1. Liberia is 20% Muslim.
2. This post is a general comment on the dangers of mass immigration, so the answer to your question "for a country with a rather high rate of Christianity, why so much horrors?" is simply "Africa".
3. "extreme right-wing agenda blogs" etc etc ad infinitum - why don't you take the opportunity of your holiday to learn some more English vocabulary?
Religion is the root of all evil.
Solkhar, I repeat what I said to you a while ago - we know where you're coming from, and you can take your disingenuous bullshit back home where it belongs.
I did not remember WAKE UP becoming the blog owner.
I still come back to the point, the evidence is always coming back to the same - mankind is capable of all sorts of horrors and evils, they can do all sorts of things in the name of nationalism, sexism, patriotism and religion.
They can wage horrible wars, make children fight, mass rape, terrorism, terrorise particular groups, do genocide, become bigoted, close-borders to outsiders, unjustly like about people, cultures and the faiths of others.... it goes on.
But, the point that I come back to, people have the right to believe what they want but when they publish it, do it as a collective excercise - they have civic responsibilites.
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