8月24日VOA聽力：塞拉利昂行刺案引發眾怒
Thursday night (8/20) on a beach in Freetown, SierraLeone, a candlelight vigil was held for a teenagerfound murdered last week. The death has sparkedoutrage in the country and concern about risingcrime in the wake of the Ebola epidemic.
The body of 17 year old Hannah Bockarie was found earlier this month on the well-knownLumley Beach. Tests will determine whether she was sexually assaulted, but police and awomen’s group say it appears she was. She may have been beaten to death.
Nicky Spencer-Coker is spokeswomen for PowerWomen232, a group of professional womenthat organized the vigil. She said outrage over the teen’s death erupted when a picture of herbody was circulated on social media.
“This young person, who clearly had died violently, now being violated and victimized a secondtime by her picture being circulated throughout social media. So, this does not seem likesomething that we should sit by and allow to go unreported on, unspoken about. It needed tobe something that we needed to raise our voices about to let people know that it wasn’t OKwith us as citizens of this country, as women, to allow something like this to unchallenged.”
She said circulating the picture of the crime scene disrespected who Bockarie was.
“That was somebody’s child. Somebody’s sister. Somebody’s daughter. And her young life wascut short in a fairly brutal manner, whether or not she was raped. So, we held this candlelightvigil and march. We’re very, very happy about the fact that we’ve received so much support andinvolvement from various individuals and organizations -- because it means that something wehope will be done. Not just for Hannah, but for other victims of violence and sexual assaults inSierra Leone,” she said.
She said that police and civil society groups reported an increase in crime, including sexualassaults, as Ebola strained government resources. However, no official figures are availableyet.
Spencer-Coker said, “I think it was incumbent on us as citizens to put pressure on the police,on the security forces to ensure that if they need to pressure somebody else to get what theyneed to ensure that we, as citizens, are protected, that they do so. There have been reports ofan increase of attacks on people along certain tourist attractions. The police have beenresponding in terms of increased checkpoints and making the public aware. But clearly moreneeds to be done.”
PowerWomen232 is calling for greater funding for the police department’s family support unitand for forensic evidence kits to investigate crime scenes. It also wants more and bettertrained police officers in Sierra Leone.
Spencer-Coker also said average citizens must use social media responsibly.
“Social media really can be a tool for good or ill. And this is not the first time that something likethis has been reported. In fact, since we started raising our voices on this particular case,people are coming forward and saying, well, this has happened and that had happened. Whatwas most disturbing was the fact that her picture was so widely shared in social mediaoutlets. And it just bothered people no end. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did and shedidn’t deserve to have her picture distributed the way it was.”
She said Hannah Bockarie was not a street child. She had family. She had friends. The vigil washeld on the eve of her 18th birthday.
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