Ledesi Kote,

*Doctors warn that unless three surgeries are urgently conducted, Ledesi Kote may lose lose his right leg

Okafor Ofiebor Port Harcourt

Unless three different types of surgeries are urgently conducted on the left leg  of Ledesi Kote, the 19 year old boy who was shot by trigger-happy police officer for impregnating a girl may lose his leg, doctors have warned.

Kote, the father of the young man now battling to survive said this while narrating the incident that led to the shooting of his son by the police.

“He was in his compound in K. Dere community in Gokana local government area of Rivers state on Friday morning of August 21, 2020, around 7am, when a Sienna drove into his compound with about four armed police men. They went straight to my son’s room door and were banging and cocking guns. I approached them to inquire from them WHY they were looking for him, but none of them answered me. It was one of them who angrily told me that his son impregnated a girl”.

Kote added that the next thing he heard from the backyard of his house was a gunshot. He added that one of the officers shot his son on the leg simply because he impregnated a girl.

He added that the Police went away with his son, despite the fact that  he was bleeding profusely and hid him in a private hospital.

Comrade Karl Uchegbu, South-South Zonal Chairman of Civil Liberties Organizations said  some human rights activist in the area took the father to the Rivers State Police Command headquarters on Moscow road in Port Harcourt, where an official complaint was made about what their officers did to an innocent boy, whose only crime was because he impregnated a girl.

Our Correspondent learnt that arrangements were made  for the immediate transfer of the victim from the village to a better government owned hospital in Port Harcourt.

Another activist who witnessed the incident regretted that, “Up tilll now, the Officer that did this is yet to take full responsibility of the medications. The doctor said the victim will have to undergo three different surgeries or else he might be amputated. We want justice for this boy. It could be me or you tomorrow”.

At the time of filing this report, the Rivers State Police Command headquarters is yet to react to incident, especially the allegation that a Police Officer shot him.