Senegal,Complaint to the gendarmerie’s research section against the leader of Pastef: Ousmane Sonko accused of rape and death threats

Did he; did he not? Ousmane Sonko is currently the subject of a complaint by a woman in her twenties, named A. Sarr. The latter, who contacted the Commander of the Colobane Gendarmerie’s Research Section on February 2nd, accuses the honourable member of Parliament and president of the Pastef party of having raped her and threatened her with death. Contacted by telephone late last night by « Les Echos », Ousmane Sonko says he was not informed of any complaint against him, neither by bailiff nor by summons or service. But according to our sources, the lady A. Sarr, who works in a massage parlour located at Sacré-Cœur 3, was interviewed at length twice by the investigators of the Research Section. So was the owner of the salon. Better still, she was sent to a specialist for sampling.

It would be a real scandal if the facts ever came to be proven. A scandal as resounding as the case of Room 2806 of the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan where Dominique Strauss Kahn was accused of rape by Nafissatou Diallo. This DSK « case » on a tropical scale concerns Ousmane Sonko. The leader of Pastef, an honourable member of parliament, is indeed accused by a lady called A. Sarr, who is in her twenties, of rape and death threats. The latter lodged a complaint with the Commander of the Colobane Research Section on 2 February last.
The woman is employed in a massage parlour in Sacré-Cœur 3. In her complaint, she relates: « Mr Ousmane Sonko regularly presents himself as a client for massage sessions, but in the end, he always demands sexual favours », she writes. Before adding: « Faced with my refusal to satisfy his impulses, he once strangled me and forced me to have sex with him. Confused and ashamed, I wanted to keep silent about this mortifying act, hoping that it would not happen again. It was bad for me because he comes back regularly and forces me to have sex with him, and this under the threat of making me disappear from the face of the earth given his omnipotence and his position in the country, » the lady writes.

« On 1 February, he sent me a message saying that he would come and wait for me ».

And the lady concluded with : « he tells me that no one will ever believe me if I tell the facts. And that in any case, I would be dead before I could. I can no longer live under his repeated rapes. (…) Today, my life has completely changed. I live in perpetual stress and disgust of my body ».
Still in his complaint, A. Sarr says: « Only yesterday (editor’s note: February 1st) he sent a written message saying that he was going to come and wait for her. And it is this ordeal that drives me to seize you today ».

Sarr auditioned at length yesterday at the SR

With the complaint filed on February 2, investigators wasted no time in pursuing it. As a result, according to our information, Complainant A. Sarr was heard at length yesterday at the Gendarmerie Research Section. She faced the investigators twice. According to our information, not only A. Sarr not only confirmed point by point all the terms of her complaint, but also replied to all the investigators’ questions.

Her boss was also interviewed, and another person was interviewed as a « witness ».

The lady A. Sarr is not the only person questioned in this « case ». According to our information, her boss, whose identity we are keeping for the time being, was also interviewed by the elements in charge of the investigation. She is said to have stated that Ousmane Sonko visits her massage parlour fairly regularly, but she said she knew nothing about the relationship between him and his employee. Another person (a man) was also heard by the investigators as a witness.

The complainant was sent to a specialist for samples.

The investigators, who did not dawdle, also sent Complainant A. Sarr to a specialist whose name we prefer not to mention in order to take samples and see whether she had recently been intimate and probably to see if there is any tissue of the accused person that has remained in her body.

Cheikh Oumar NDAW

Ousmane Sonko: « I have not been informed of any complaint against me either by bailiff or by summons or service ».

Contacted on the phone after several attempts late last night by « Les Echos », Ousmane Sonko made a small reaction. The president of Pastef, after asking for our identity, asked if journalists now receive complaints instead of court cases. Ousmane Sonko replied all the same that he has not been informed of any complaint against him either by bailiff or by summons or service.

Sidy Djimby NDAO
 

THE ECHOES