Seven-year-old girl, Mercy, who was brutally beaten and chained for 48 hours, breaks mother’s silence.
Terrified more than surprised, that is Franca Sakwe, Mercy’s biological mother, who has not seen her seven year old daughter for three years. Sakwe Franca lived with the absence of her daughter, a mystery that began, according to her, one day when she went out to look at dresses and on returning, Mercy was nowhere to be found.
The recent viral video of a child, her child, chained and abused, therefore, was not just a public shock; it was the horrifying culmination of a private nightmare she had endured for far too long. Sakwe Franca says, «The search led me to the child’s father, whose explanation offered cold comfort.
He informed me that Mercy had gone with Roshelle, daughter of his co-wife. This was not a decision I had been part of; it was a reality imposed upon me. « I did not send Mercy to live with anyone » Franca now finds herself in a situation no parent can fathom: seeing her child rediscovered under the most brutal circumstances.
Her long held private dread has become a public spectacle of suffering. For fear of being beaten over and over, each time Franca called to speak with Mercy, she always said everything was fine.
Ecoe Derick, Mercy’s brother, explains, illustrating the maltreatment she faced in her stepmother’s home but kept silent about from her mother. Right now, all Sakwe Franca wants is justice and to take her daughter with her.
