BY: Shallon S.Gonlor
NIMBA COUNTY — The Resident Judge of the Specialized Sexual Offenses Court at the Eighth Judiciary Circuit Court in Sanniquellie, Judge Musa S. Sidibey has won public admiration and praises due to his verdict in a rape trial of former magistrate Chester S. Paye.
The judge’s verdict early this week has been received with praises from SGBV Advocates, mostly women and victims who have over the years decried how the legal system treats survivors.
However, the public was not optimistic that the Specialized Sexual Offenses Court judge presiding will lead a quick change in the judiciary that they say often doesn’t work for when ever they sexually violated by men.
The Resident Judge of the Specialized Sexual Offenses Court at the Eighth Judiciary Circuit Court in Sanniquellie, Judge Musa S. Sidibey, on early Monday brought down a guilty verdict and sentenced former Zuolay Magisterial Court Magistrate Chester S. Paye to a 25-year jail sentence.
Chester S. Paye, was accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who was a caregiver for him.
Following his ruling, residents and citizens of Nimba County who spoke to our Nimba County correspondent referred to Judge Musa S. Sidibey as a man who has come to rescue Liberians through the justice system in the country.
In interviews this week, experts of SGBV disclosed that few years ago over 30 rapists were released from the Sanniquellie Center Prison after allegedly using cash violence by providing some cash to Judges, Public Defenders, and County Attorney who was assigned at the Specialized Sexual Offenses Court, but they are no longer available at the Court.
On Monday, March 18, 2024, the specialized court for the trial of atrocities against women, girls, and children convicted the former magistrate for raping a 12-year-old minor who had been living with him and his wife, Rita Dahn (victim’s aunt), on the farm in Zuolay Town, Tappita City, Lower Nimba County, since May 2023.
In his ruling, Judge Musa S. Sidibey said the court notes that throughout the trial proceedings, the defendant did not show remorse even after the jury returned a majority verdict of guilty against him.
The resident Judge Musa S. Sidibey of the Specialized Sexual Offenses Court at the Eighth Judiciary Circuit Court in Sanniquellie considered the convict of 53 years old, purported to be a former judicial magistrate with no known criminal record. As such, the ruling and sentence imposed by the court take into consideration the utility of punishment, that is, deterrence, correction, and rehabilitation.
“The specialized Sexual Offenses Court’s ruling also looks at punishment that provides safe environments for children and to deter others with evil intent from posing danger to children and women as well as other vulnerable groups living within the borders of the Republic of Liberia,” he added.
The 53-year-old Magistrate Chester S. Paye’s commission of the crime of Statutory Rape is graded a felony of the first degree, which carries a maximum term of life imprisonment backed by the Penal Law Revised Code: 26:14.70(4)(a).
Convict Chester S. Paye, ex-magistrate of Zuolay Magisterial Court, was arrested and indicted by the Grand Jury of Nimba County sitting in its November 2023 Term of Court.
Citizens of Nimba noted his legal interpretation anf references of the law and grassroots research that has been done on sexual violence over the last several decades, and that he took time to explore the issues of consent and reasonable doubt.
“He is assessing and analyzing the law correctly, which is what we want judges to do all the time,” cross voices said in an interview.
According to them, the resident Judge Musa S. Sidibey of the Specialized Sexual Offenses Court at the Eighth Judiciary Circuit Court in Sanniquellie decision is empowering, which creates a little bit of hope in a situation where rape survivors think a lot of them had been feeling that there wasn’t any hope in terms of the justice system being able to be helpful in a case of sexual offense cases.
