The facts took place in the Nkoabang neighborhood in the city of Yaoundé. The main suspect has been identified as an adult, father of three children. Collective outrage demands sanctions.
Little Divine Mbarga Atangana was found dead in a house under construction on March 18 in the Nkoabang neighborhood in Yaoundé. When her lifeless body was discovered, the girl’s relatives were already searching for her. The evening before, she left her grandmother’s home to go to her classmate’s house where she often did school homework. However, she did not return to her grandmother’s home. This caused concern in the family. A search launched that evening led to the discovery of the lifeless body bearing marks of violence on intimate parts. Signs indicating that she was a victim of rape before losing her life.
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The investigations opened led to the discovery of facts showing that Divine was raped by the father of her classmate. Neighbors testified to hearing a child’s cries and screams at night. However, these signs of distress did not prompt anyone to come to her rescue. Her abuser, after completing his crime, asked his son who was standing guard during the rape to find other children to transport and leave her elsewhere. But when these children arrived at the scene, they became frightened. They did not carry out the task. They left under threat of not telling anyone under penalty of death.
The case has sparked a wave of collective outrage. Voices are rising to denounce the cruelty and demand a punishment commensurate with the act. Online, artists, influencers, and political figures are expressing their indignation. Kareyce Fotso, a musical artist, denounces the public’s silence in the face of “such an atrocious tragedy”. For her, “no child deserves such violence. No family deserves such silence”. Lady Ponce, a Bikutsi singer, in this wave of outrage questions the incomprehensible: “Our baby Divine Mbarga Atangana raped and killed by her classmate’s father Lord where is the world going?”.
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Mani Bella, another singer, is rather unreserved on the subject. She pleads for “castration with a machete and in front of the media” of such child abusers and calls for maximum protection and surveillance of children. Rachel Nkontieu, a film actress, in demanding justice for the victim, appeals to collective conscience. “No society can claim to live if it turns a blind eye to violence against children”.
The facts occurred a few months after the murder of baby Mathys by knife blows, also in the city of Yaoundé. Joseph Emmanuel Ateba, communication secretary of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon, believes it is urgent to pass a law that condemns those guilty of sexual crimes against minors to the maximum penalty”. The suspect, arrested, is at the 20th police station for investigation purposes. Justice for Divine Mbarga, thus continues to blow the wind of condemnation.
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