Policeman guns down 13 year-old in Bayelsa

 

    There was protest in Bayelsa State, Friday, after a policeman, Corporal David Napoleon, shot and killed a 13-year-old Senior Secondary School Student identified as Joseph Tomizibe.

   Residents of Kpansia where the indigent happened protested the killing, blocked the road and caused traffic gridlock along the busy Yenagoa-Mbiama road. The policeman attached to the Department of Operations at the state police command, was said to have been arrested, disarmed and detained for further investigations.

   According to The Nation, the Kpansia community was thrown into chaos as youths, women and elders lamented rising illegal arrest by policemen.But the intervention of Yenagoa Caretaker Committee Chairman, Oforji Oboku, calmed frayed nerves and stopped the angry residents from attacking a traffic policeman in the area. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr, Asinim Butswat, said the victim was 18 years old adding that he was shot when the policeman was trying to escape from being attacked by irate boys and suspected cultists in the area.

   But the Central Zone leadership of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) faulted the claims of the police. The Zonal Chairman of IYC, Mr. Tare Porri, who visited the deceased family, said his interactions with members of the family showed the victim was 13 years old. Narrating how the incident happened, he said: After consulting with the police and family of the deceased boy, it is clear that the deceased is 13 years old. He and the killer policeman were neighbours.

    “‎Eyewitnesses said the policeman shot twice from the kitchen to scare some suspected cultists trying to gain entry. When he came out, he saw that the boys were still around. There was an argument and when one of the boys called others on phone, the policeman shot at knee level but the bullet hit the deceased on the thigh. “Eyewitnesses and the Investigating officer confirmed to us that the boy was not a cultist. He was just witnessing the argument.