Date:3rd May 2025
We, the grieving families of the two toddlers who tragically lost their lives on Tuesday, 18th March 2025, at the National Pentecostal School on Fort Street, come together bound and united in unbearable sorrow, deep frustration, and collective strength to demand truth, accountability, and justice.
1. Background
Our children were reported missing during school hours and discovered lifeless 11 hours later, inside a black, stationary vehicle parked within the compound of the Bishop of the National Pentecostal Church in the school vicinity. Since the horrific discovery, we have fully cooperated with police investigations. However, the continued silence, glaring inconsistencies, apparent negligence, lack of transparency, urgency and accountability from authorities have deepened our pain, raised serious suspicion. And eroded our trust.
2. Autopsy Findings: Cause of Death
The official autopsy revealed that our children died from asphyxia, suffocation, and inhalation of irrespirable gas consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Key findings:
• Cherry red discoloration of organs and blood.
• Severe cerebral anoxia (oxygen deprivation).
• No signs of physical trauma, indicating toxic gas exposure as the likely cause.
3. Critical Failures and Missing Evidence
We are shocked that:
• All suspects were released before autopsy was done and results were announced.
• The vehicle where the children were found dead was removed and not seen at CID headquarters.
• The Ministry of Social Welfare and Education have failed to publicly address the tragedy.
4. Disturbing Inconsistencies & Unanswered Questions
This tragedy is surrounded by deeply troubling inconsistencies that continues to raise serious concerns:
• Why were the children’s bodies not drenched in sweat if trapped for hours in the scorching March heat?
• How could toddlers walk over 60 metres, enter a parked car unnoticed, and remain there despite multiple searches?
• Why was the existence of a fourth child withheld, and what role do they play?
• Why has the surviving child’s family gone silent?
• Why did the class teacher abandon the classroom early and delay reporting to police?
• Just one day prior, both children came home wearing only underwear vests—a red flag ignored. We believe this suggests they may have been identified or targeted before their deaths.
5. Our Demands:
We call for:
- Full transparency and accountability from the Sierra Leone Police.
- Immediate disclosure of the vehicle’s whereabouts and condition.
- Formal investigations into school staff, church leaders, and other adults present.
- Identification and protection of the fourth child and their testimony.
- A supervised statement from the surviving child.
- Public response from the Ministries of Welfare and Education.
- An independent investigation with oversight from civil society, legal, and human rights experts.
6. The Way Forward: Legal Action
The time for patience is over. We will take legal action to ensure justice for our lost children.
• Demand an independent inquiry into the case.
• Initiate legal proceedings against those responsible for negligence, obstruction, or harm.
• If necessary, escalate the matter to regional and international human rights bodies.
7. A Call to the Nation
We call on His Excellency, Rtd. Brig. Dr. Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, the Fountain of Honour and Justice to intervene and uphold justice.
We urge the government and people of Sierra Leone to stand with us in the face of a tragedy that has shaken us to our core.
We call upon all civil society organizations, human rights activists, legal advocates and experts, to join us in demanding answers.
We appeal to the press and media to continue shedding lights in this case and to refuse silence in the face of injustice.
And we urge all concern citizens and those in the diaspora to stand with us to ask hard questions, and to ensure that this matter is not buried and forgotten.
Our children mattered!! Their lives mattered!! Their deaths must not go unanswered!! We will not rest until justice is served!! *Long Live Sierra Leone!!
