Charles Taylor’s Ex-Wife Denies Plotting Torture And Rape Of Liberians

By Sebastian Murphy-bates (For Mailonline)

A former head of department at Coventry University today denied torturing children and tying up a mother so she could witness her two children being shot. The ex-wife of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, Agnes Taylor, faces eight torture charges.

*Dr. Agnes Taylor 

The 52-year-old is also accused of conspiring to use rape to torture women during the west African country’s civil war in 1990. Taylor, a former university lecturer, is said to have tortured one child victim by having them tied to a tree then witness the shooting of others.

She appeared at the Old Bailey today by videolink from Bronzefield prison in Surrey, speaking only to confirm her name before entering not guilty pleas to all charges.

The charges, which can now be reported for the first time, include one of conspiracy to torture and seven of torture and are listed in full below:

Every alleged offence is said to have been committed while Taylor was 'a public official or person acting in an official capacity'.

Each of the seven torture counts states her alleged actions were 'in the performance or purported performance of [her] official duties'.

Taylor, who previously worked as a lecturer and head of department at Coventry University, faces trial in January next year before Mr Justice Sweeney.

The defendant, of Dagenham, East London, remains in custody.

- Daily Mail 

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