The population of Bamenda is threatening to take to the streets if the police officer with the mobile intervention wing of the police who shot a lady at close range is not brought to justice.
This is coming a day after a police officer whose identity is being hidden by authorities shot a lady by the name of Sheila Praise, an artist, in her shop at the Hospital Roundabout neighbourhood in Bamenda on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
Talking to MMI, a witness said it was a deliberate act, and the officer showed no signs of regret after shattering the lady’s leg slightly above the knee.
“What almost made me fight back was the arrogance on the part of the shooter. He even used French as a means to intimidate us. He didn’t show any remorse after the act. What we want now is to see him behind bars for attempted murder in order for justice to be served. We will end up taking to the streets if nothing is done; enough is enough,” said the witness as tears ran down his cheek.
He is not the only one who says all should be done to punish the soldier so that his trigger-happy colleagues will be deterred.
“Many of such acts have been perpetrated on civilians, but the security heads in the region have always turned a blind eye. If this goes unpunished, it would give them the right to continue shooting people because they know nothing will happen to them,” Nde M., a Bamenda citizen, told MMI.
How it all happened
On Tuesday, September 26, when the sun was overhead, this police officer went into the victim’s shop and was resting just below the main entrance into the Regional Hospital in Bamenda. He even fell asleep and was there for more than an hour, Niba W., a witness confirmed to MMI, and further that
“When it was closing time, his colleagues called him out for them to retire home Since he was sleeping, Sheila Praise was the one who indicated to him that his friends were calling,” he said, adding that “he got up and told the victim, ‘Je vais te tirer dessus,’ roughly translated as ‘I will shoot you’. Despite pleas from the lady’, he opened fire at close range damaging her knee.”
She was rushed to the Bamenda Regional Hospital where she was operated upon with no support from the North West Administration, especially the police corps.
Not the first time
Civilians have suffered the most ever since the Anglophone Crisis morphed into a bloody war.
Hundreds, if not thousands, have been shot and killed, and the reaction from the administration has been more of a mockery. This has made many believe that it’s now a ‘New Normal’ as little or nothing is being done to bring the trigger-excited officers to order.
A few years ago, a police officer shot and killed a little girl at the New Road Junction neighbourhood of Nkwen Bamenda.
To date, nothing has ever filtered out as to the whereabouts of the perpetrator. There are reports that he was transferred elsewhere, given that there has been no public outing about his fate since the incident took place. Not even the case of Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda where a soldier shot and killed two civilians including the promoter of a well-known hotel in Bamenda was taken seriously by the authorities.
Population cautioned
In order not to fall victim, members of civil society have been calling on the inhabitants of Bamenda and the North West Region as a whole to limit the way they mingle with forces of law and order because of the way they have been operating.
Some are seen drinking beer in parlours with gun-carrying soldiers, something many say is very dangerous.
While the latest victim battles for her life in the hospital, many are anxiously waiting to see the reaction of the administration.
