Father of boy ‘shot dead’ by police demand justice

For Malam Muhammadu Muhalli, last Saturday, the eve of the Eid-ul fitr in 2012 would always remain a source of sorrow and pains. It was on that day that his 12-yearold son Hassan was allegedly shot to death by a policeman while he was trading sachet water and fuel by the roadside at the populous […]

For Malam Muhammadu Muhalli, last Saturday, the eve of the Eid-ul fitr in 2012 would always remain a source of sorrow and pains. It was on that day that his 12-yearold son Hassan was allegedly shot to death by a policeman while he was trading sachet water and fuel by the roadside at the populous Gwale area of Kano city.

The tragic death of the victim, Weekly Trust gathered, was said to have occurred after the police sergeant identified as Laminu Rabiu who was attached to the Gwale Divisional police station fired a shot at the boy from a moving patrol vehicle in which he was said to be sitting alongside his colleagues.

Witnesses and residents in the area said that late Hassan was well known to most of the police officers attached to the station as he ran errands for many of them. He was even said to have refuelled the police patrol vehicle from which he was shot before it left for the police headquarters in Bompai area on an assignment on the day he was killed.

The gruesome killing of little late Hassan by the policeman had reportedly enraged the residents of the area who swarmed the police station in protest threatening to set it on fire. The irate crowd also reportedly demanded for the immediate relocation of the station from the area. But sources said the police headquarters prevented the situation from getting out of control by dispatching a team of heavily armed police personnel to disperse the angry mob

Muhalli who explained how the incident happened with an expression of grief etched on his aged face, described the killing as reckless and vowed to seek justice. He said Hassan was shot in the face by the police around 1pm on the fateful day without provocation. “He was fasting and seated on a refrigerator when they shot him,” he said.

Hassan’s father said the deceased seemed to have had the premonition of his death just a day before the incident. “I was listening to a conversation between him and his mother a day to the incident and heard him telling her that he would not sleep in the house again after that night. He told her this after she insisted he must go to his bed,” he said.

Muhalli also recalled that Hassan remained indoors for much part of the following day until he was sent on an errand by his mother, after which he went to pray. “It was after the prayer that the incident occurred,” he said.

According to him, the police at the Gwale station told him the assailant who killed his son had been sent together with his colleagues to collect new weapons from the Bompai police headquarters. “They told me it was on their way back that my son was killed. “I learnt that my son was the one who refuelled the police patrol vehicle before they left for Bompai,” he said.

“They (police authorities) said the officers did not know how to operate the new guns, which resulted in the accidental discharge that killed the boy. But people are not fools to believe that these policemen would be given guns they didn’t know how to use. And in any case, who authorized them to be firing their guns indiscriminately?” he queried.

“The police also claimed that the vehicle was on a high speed when it hit a pothole and jolted the occupants which resulted in the accidental shot. They said the officer was struggling to prevent himself from falling off the vehicle when he fired his weapon inadvertently. That was the explanation we received from the police,” he continued.

Friends, relatives and some neighbours, according Muhalli, have been pleading with him to leave the matter to God. “But God has enjoined us to seek redress when we are wronged. Therefore, I will never forgive them, I am seeking justice and I must be paid compensations for the act,” he insisted.

He told Weekly Trust that he had filed a complaint with the Kano Emirate Council and would pursue other avenues to get justice for his son.

Similarly, the elder brother of the deceased, Auwalu Muhammadu in his own account of the incident said he was at home when children ran to him shouting, “Hassan has been shot and is lying in the gutter.”

“The bullet pierced through my brother’s forehead near his right eye and escaped through the back of his head,” he said. “The boy was still alive at the time I saw him and was gasping for breath. It was a gory sight.”

Muhammadu claimed the policemen who murdered his brother had all retreated to the opposite side of the road, when he picked the boy and dropped him before them. “It was difficult for the police to get a vehicle to take him to the hospital. But after a long wait, they got one and took the dying child to the hospital immediately,” he said.

The Kano state police command in its reaction to the incident expressed ‘deep regret’ and promised to take appropriate action against the officer through a “fair and open process”.

The command, through its acting spokesperson, ASP Musa Magajji Majiya, said the policeman accused of killing the boy had been disarmed and was facing orderly room trial. He said the boy died at the hospital while receiving treatment “The command regrets the unfortunate incident and hereby assures the public that justice will surely be done.”