The Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police for Professional Standards, SIS Koroma has disclosed to Journalist at the Police Headquarters, that during the recent fracas between Police and Pupils of the St. Edwards Secondary School, one Marie Kamara a pregnant woman miscarried due to beatings allegedly received from Pupils of that School.
The woman was neither a relative of the Police nor the Pupils; but she was reported to have been a passerby, who was misconstrued as a relative of the Police Officers at Kingtom Barracks.
Another victim of that riot was a five year old boy who was pelted with a stone in his head for no just cause. Both the woman and the boy were said to have been taken care of by the Sierra Leone Police.
As if that was not enough, reports alleged that: PC 11549 Joseph Senesie, PC 9680 Jabez Williams, PC 11550 Abib Kamara and WPC 9553 Ramantu Cole were amongst those Police Officers who were allegedly beaten up by the Pupils.
Explaining the cause of the riot, SIS Koroma stated that one sixteen year old girl was passing through the Kingtom Police Field when some School Boys of the St Edwards School called her, but she never responded.
The Pupils, he said, were reported to have rained some invectives on the girl; and in the process some Police Officers intervened to contain the situation. He disclosed that the Officers invited one of the Teachers in the School to instill discipline in his Pupils; but the Teacher subsequently beckoned to the Pupils and hell let loose as the Pupils pounced on the Police.
“While the boys were busy pelting our men with stones, the Police never fired a shot, instead they released tear gas to dispatch them” he stated.
AIG Koroma was reported to have said that at the time of the riot, Police Officers were not present as most people may have said, but rather relatives of the Police, which include children and wives. He was reputed to have said that, no one would love to see a bunch of hooligans wrecking havoc on his or her father’s property without retaliating, adding that the alleged pupils were all over the place on that day pelting relatives of Police with stones.
Contrary to wide spread speculations that the whole situation went out of hands when some Police Officers who materialized at the scene exhibited their biasness, by only arresting School Pupils and their Teacher, AIG for Operations Richard Moigbe attributed the cause of that riot to indiscipline.
According to Moigbe, a joint committee which comprised of members of the Civil Society, SLTU, NUSS, Ministry of Education, St. Edwards Board of Governors and other stake holders have been set up to identify the causes of the matter.
By Solomon Rogers