The organization also expressed concern about delays in police action and the apparent lack of transparency surrounding the investigation.
Monrovia – The Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) is calling for swift justice and full accountability in the case of Kadiatu Dioh, a 29-year-old woman who died after an alleged domestic assault in Johnsonville.
According to eyewitness accounts, Dioh was attacked with a wooden plank by her husband, Papie Lema Dioh, and another woman believed to be his girlfriend. She sustained serious head injuries during the attack and later died at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia from internal brain bleeding.
WONGOSOL, through its Executive Director Madam Esther S. D. Yango, has strongly condemned the killing and described it as a reflection of the widespread violence many Liberian women face in abusive relationships.
The organization also expressed concern about delays in police action and the apparent lack of transparency surrounding the investigation.
Kadiatu’s family, particularly her sister Hawa Abigail Neewon, disclosed that she had endured years of domestic abuse. Despite earlier interventions by the court and the family, the violence reportedly continued and eventually escalated, leading to her death.
The family has also expressed frustration over how the Liberia National Police is handling the matter, citing suggestions from authorities that they proceed with burial before an investigation or autopsy report is concluded.
WONGOSOL is demanding the immediate release of the official autopsy and death report, a full and impartial investigation into the events leading to Kadiatu’s death, and the arrest and prosecution of everyone involved in the alleged assault.
The organization is also calling for psychosocial support and protection for the deceased’s child and her immediate family, as well as renewed government commitment to ending gender-based violence across Liberia.
Executive Director Yango emphasized that Kadiatu’s case must not be treated as just another statistic and that her life and death must serve as a call to action. She urged human rights institutions, civil society, and the international community to stand with the victim’s family in their quest for justice.
“Kadiatu Dioh’s life mattered. Her voice has been silenced, but ours will not be,” Yango said.
WONGOSOL, established in 1998, is a coordinating body for women’s rights organizations in Liberia and continues to lead national efforts on gender equality, legal reform, and women’s empowerment.
