Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty sentenced to 20 years in prison.

For those who didn’t follow her case and story, Ghislaine was the intimate partner of Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing young girls. He is said to have committed suicide in prison.

For over 10 years, Ghislaine was in a relationship with Epstein and had a front row seat to his lifestyle. She is said to have enabled, supported, protected, and trafficked underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse and exploit.

In our society, we see many enablers, who along with their bosses and or partners, are walking around with impunity and not being held accountable for being accomplices to the commission of crimes. 

An accomplice is someone who helps another person to commit a crime.

When you are aware of someone who is having sex with children and you say nothing to stop the person, or act to cover it up without reporting the person committing the act, you are an accomplice.

You are an enabler.

You are Ghislaine Maxwell.

You deserve to go to jail.

Many people around the world go to jail for being accomplices to murder, theft, fraud, etc. However, on this side of the globe, we see very few cases of accomplices being held accountable for their actions or inaction.

I have yet to see a case of anyone in Liberia being held accountable for enabling the abuse of children. Our culture is one where we see many people bring in kids from less economically stable homes to live with their families to help with house chores, family businesses, etc. These children are often the victims of sexual molestation and rape. 

Many times this happens with family members turning a blind eye to the obvious signs of the abuse. When you are in such a situation and you say nothing, do nothing, and pretend to know nothing, you are an accomplice. 

While you may not be the one actually committing the act, you are aware and can be held accountable for your complacency, if not tacit support of the crime.

I believe if we start to see more people being held accountable for their involvement in the abuse of children, we would see a reduction in these crimes.

Ghislaine Maxwell is an example.

In her case, she helped recruit children under the guise of giving them opportunities. She deliberately and intentionally supported Epstein’s perverted desires of sleeping with children for fun and pleasure. Not just him, but he and his rich friends.

To bring this closer to home and maybe make this more relatable, we see in Liberia, people grooming and sourcing young underage girls for men of influence and affluence to be “godpa” and “sponsor”. We have normalized this so much so that it has become seemingly fully acceptable to see an older man with a junior or senior high school student calling her his “lil girl”.

These relationships are one of sexual favors in exchange for financial support and security.

It is wrong!

I had a debate with someone few years back about this. Said the person: There is nothing wrong with it if it us consensual.

Well, I disagreed.

Having sex with any person below the age of 18 in Liberia is statutory rape – consent or no consent! It is a crime punishable with jail time of nothing less than 10 years.

There is no such thing as consensual sex with a minor!

I explained this to the gentleman I was discussing with and he said “age is just a number. Many of these girls are far advanced for their ages, the things they can do and say, they not small children”.

I asked him if he was ok with someone having “consensual sex” with his then 14-year-old daughter.

His response: “That’s different. I provide for her”.

As I said, we have normalized this behavior and its time that we start to have conversations about these things to change the culture.

We need to call out our friends more when we see them doing the wrong things.

We need to hold our police and legal authorities more accountable to pursuing more meaningful cases that will inspire public confidence in the legal system, and the rule of law.

For Ghislaine Maxwell, she has had may years to ponder over her support and enabling the crimes of her lover. Her life was made public. She was disgraced and she now faces 30 years in jail. 

Her words: “I’m sorry for the pain you have experienced. My association with Epstein will permanently stain me. My association with Epstein was the greatest regret of my life.”

While this does not heal the trauma and pain caused, it gives some relief to the survivors of her crimes.

For Epstein, he took the cowardly way out – taking his life after ruining the lives of any others.

Don’t be an enabler.

Don’t be an accomplice.

#FixTheSystem

#WeAreUnprotected

#ThursdayInBlack