‘It wasn’t deliberate’- Kasoa police explains “killing” Nigerian father of 5-wk-old baby

Kasoa police have rejected suggestions of deliberately killing a 27-year-old Nigerian at Buduburam in the Central Region.

The family of the deceased have accused the police of intentionally shooting and killing Precious on Friday, July 17.

Narrating the incident on Joy FM, Kasoa District Police Commander, Superintendent Samuel Odame said: “Our attempt was not to kill him.No! It was not the attempt of the police to kill him”.

He indicated that a postmortem examination would reveal further details on the death of the young man.

Superintendent Odame said it was unfortunate that the family would accuse the police of “deliberately” killing the young man.

According to him, police received information that someone was going about brandishing two cutlasses, ready to slash anyone on sight.

When the police patrol team got there, the police attempted to calm him. However, the Corporal, “the first police officer who got down to ascertain (what was happening) was chased, but for God’s intervention, he would have been killed by this person (deceased),” he narrated.

“The team had to use force to prevent any unfortunate incident from happening and unfortunately what happened is” the death of the young man.

He said police shot at the man “to disable him”.

The wife of the deceased, a nursing mother of a five-week-old baby, told JoyFM that she was a hotel when Precious came and said to her that his life was in danger.

The two moved from the hotel and went to a friend’s house for shelter and raised the alarm.

‘The neighbours came out in their numbers and my late husband retraced his footsteps to look out for the assailant. It took a long time and Precious was not returning, so some of the people around followed up.

“Then someone called to tell me that Precious has been admitted to the hospital after he sustained a knife wound. When I insisted that I wanted to see him, they said no and locked me in the room.

“I later realised the police had shot and killed my husband. He has opened a shop for me here and people around know him very well…he is hardworking and does not steal, so I don’t know why he was killed”.

The wife described the deceased as a peaceful person.

She said she was still struggling to come to terms with her husband’s death.

She wondered how she would survive with her baby after being robbed of the support of Precious, the breadwinner for the family.

The incident incensed the Nigerian community who stormed the police station to demand answers.

Scores of foreigners hurled stones at the police, prompting reinforcements to bring the situation under control.