The
Ministry of Defense today whisked away the body of the late Shaki
Kamara, 16, who was wounded by a stray bullet on Wednesday, August 20,
2014, during the West Point riot.
The teenagers’ body was seen wrapped in a white hospital bed sheet
and protective plastic as it was being placed into a Striker Funeral
Home vehicle.
Heavily armed security forces, including the Liberian National
Police, stood by inside and around the hospital premises as they
prepared to take his body away.
When asked by the Daily Observer as to why such tight security was
needed for the removal of a teenager’s body, an officer, who asked not
to be named stated, “It’s to make sure that no one tries taking the body
away from us while we’re moving it.”
The late Shaki Kamara was admitted at Redemption hospital hours after he was allegedly wounded on August 20, 2014.
According to his uncle Favor Blamo, the teenager was shot in his
right leg during an alleged stone throwing and gun shooting battle
between residents of WestPoint and the AFL/LNP.
“ They fired at him on the legs, and he was brought to Redemption
hospital on the same day. We went there and the hospital people said we
should come later; and that’s how it’s been since we’ve been coming
here,” the uncle explained.
It’s said by sources that the late Shaki had lost a lot of blood upon
his arrival, and the family was told that he needed blood but to no
avail.
“He died Thursday by 3pm. He bled for so long and ended up dying
because of it. They requested for blood and no one was there to give him
blood,” Mr. Blamo lamented.
The family said Shaki had first been taken to the J. F. Kennedy
Medical Center in Sinkor, where he was refused treatment. They then took
him to other hospitals, who also refused to treat him.
He was finally accepted at Redemption, where he lay in his pains, bleeding until he died.
His mother, Eva Nah, said she had sent her son to buy tea and bread
in the morning. It was while returning that he was caught up in the
melee in West Point Wednesday morning, when he was shot in both legs.
When Shaki’s sister, sent by her mother, Ms. Eva Nah, went to the
Redemption Hospital to find her brother, she found him lying dead on the
floor in a pool of blood, without having received any medical attention
since the Wednesday morning when he was reportedly shot.
Photos in possession of the Observer show that at least two other young men sustained injuries, one to the stomach.
Today, a Redemption Hospital employee escorted our reporter onto the
hospital’s premises to observe the removal of the late Shaki.
Two medical officials were seen wearing protective suits as they placed the corpse into the Striker funeral vehicle.
The Defense Ministry Deputy for Operations, St. Jerome Larbelee, upon identifying our reporter, seized her camera.
“I should arrest you,” he threatened our young female reporter. “Who
told you to come here? The way things are done in America is not how we
do them here. I have to make sure you don’t have anything in that camera
that will interfere with what we are doing.”
According to our reporter, the Defense official stated that the
operation of removing the late Shaki’s body was being done under tight
security. “He said I shouldn’t have breached it,” the reporter told us.
Meanwhile, the family of the late Shaki claims they have been trying
effortlessly to reclaim his body for burial since his demise.
Shaki’s sister, who went to the hospital to inquire about her brother’s body, told the
Observer what authorities told her.
“I spoke with the Deputy Minister of Operations at Defense myself and
told him that we wanted to see [Shaki’s] body while they were taking it
away. I was told to go to my mother in West Point for any information
that I wanted. My mother Mary, who Shaki was living with, said that they
want to have a State burial for him.
“Small boy like that, why should he have a State burial? It’s not
right. We should have right to his body,” Shaki’s sister, Evon Kamara,
explained to the Daily Observer.
The late teenager’s aunt, who was also on the scene, confirmed Evon’s
account of events. “They didn’t tell us anything. Police told us they
came for body and also told us that they’re taking it to funeral home.
They told us we can’t take it and government owns it. We begged and they
refused,” Rachel Johnson told the Observer.
Meanwhile, the family has yet to understand why they have lost
privileges to the body of the late Shaki Kamara. They have also stated
that due to financial constraints, they were unable to follow the body
to Striker Funeral Parlor immediately after his body was taken.
As for our reporter, she has yet to receive the items that were
seized from her during her coverage of this story. Mr. Larbelee
threatened to delete the footage on her camera before it could be
returned. Higher ups at the Defense Ministry, however, upon intervention
from their bosses, assured the Observer’s Managing Director, Kenneth Y.
Best, that the camera would be returned intact.
http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/defense-officials-claim-shaki-kamara%E2%80%99s-corpse
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e...alth-statement
