From school party to a hospital bed
Oct 28, 2008
SEVENTEEN-year-old Solomon Okirigi’s face is creased and tiny beads of sweat dot his forehead. He closes his eyes and bites his lower lip; at every slow attempt to take a stride, he gasps in pain. His mother and a friend, on either side of him, help him walk to the toilets at the men’s ward of T
By Moses Nampala
SEVENTEEN-year-old Solomon Okirigi’s face is creased and tiny beads of sweat dot his forehead. He closes his eyes and bites his lower lip; at every slow attempt to take a stride, he gasps in pain. His mother and a friend, on either side of him, help him walk to the toilets at the men’s ward of Tororo Hospital.
Beneath the skimpy pair of shorts he wears on this chilly morning, is a blood-stained plastered patch on his right thigh. Fresh blood trickles down his injured limb.
Okirigi, a Senior Three student at Rock High School in Tororo Municipality, was one of the two students who sustained bullet wounds during a Senior Four leavers’ party at their school on the evening of October 9. The two were shot by Police officers attached to Tororo Police station.
Memories of the fateful evening are still fresh in Okirigi’s mind. He says the party ended at 6:30pm to the chagrin of the students.
“When the entertainment master announced that the party had ended and we should go home, some students protested, insisting that it should continue for sometime.â€
Even when the music was turned off, the students hung around in the hall, but were not doing anything violent, he says.
They were shocked to see armed Police officers, who ordered them off the compound.
“We had converged outside the school gate, talking about the party, before we could leave for home, only to be confronted by the Police officers wielding whips. We scampered in disarray at the crack of the whips on some of the students, whom we heard wailing in pain,†says Okirigi.
William Osuna, who survived the shooting, says from somewhere amid the fleeing students came a barrage of insults, directed at the Police. “We were shocked to see the one of the Police officers aiming the gun in the direction where the insults came from and opening fire,†recalls Joyce Akello.
Okirigi remembers feeling a mild prick in his left thigh, then in the buttock, but ignored it and went on running.
“Suddenly, my legs gave way and I collapsed on the ground. It was then that I realised I had been shot because my trousers were drenched in blood.â€
The bullet entered Okirigi’s body through the right thigh before lodging in the flesh of the left buttock. Simon Edatu, another student, sustained a fracture when a bullet hit his lower left leg, shattering the bone and lodging inside the leg.
A group of students carried Okirigi to the hospital, which was only about 700 metres away from the scene. No sooner had they arrived at the casualty wing than another group followed, carrying Edatu.
Ann Ishagi, Okirigi’s mother, learnt of the shooting incident the following morning. “I came weeping all the way from Malera village in Bukedea, convinced that my son was dead. I am happy he is still alive, and I’m going to sue the Government over the matter as soon as my son gets better,†she says.
It is two weeks since the two students were shot and they have a long road to full recovery.
Tororo Hospital’s bone and joint surgery specialist, Dr. Henry Nambafu, extracted the bullet from okirigi’s body three days after the incident.
“When I scrutinised the injuries, I immediately suspected a bullet could be still lodged in his body and recommended an x-ray review,†recalls the physician. His suspicion was confirmed by the X-ray results.
During the surgery, the physician made a four-centimetre-deep incision in Okirigi’s left buttock to extract the bullet. Nambafu says Okirigi was lucky, as he could have died.
In the upper part of the legs, he says, there is a blood vessel the size of a finger. In the event that the bullet had shattered it, this boy would have bled to death before he could get to the hospital, Nambafu says.
He adds that if the bullet had shattered the thighbone or one of the pelvic bones Okirigi could have failed to walk.
Nambafu says the boy will have problems walking after recoverybecause the bullet tore some muscles in his thighs.
Meanwhile, hospital records showed that in Edatu’s case the bullet shattered the bone in the lower part of the left leg. “After the bullet was removed, his leg was plastered and he was advised to use crutches,†one of the nurses explained.
The Tororo district Police commander, Gaudencio Okumu, declined to comment on the matter. “It is the regional public relations officer in Mbale, ASP Senkumbi who is competent enough to comment on the incident,†he said.
Senkumbi could not be reached for comment. But a report from Tororo central Police station to the deputy resident district commissioner, Richard Gulume, a copy of which The New Vision saw, said the Police officers opened fire on the students in self-defence.
“The students had started pelting them with stones in the ensuing confusion as they urged them to go back to their respective homes,†states the report.
Gulume said the incident was unfortunate and he had ordered the authorities of the Tororo central police station to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book.
Okirigi’s mother regrets that the shooting came at a trying moment, when the students were about to sit for their end-of-year exams. “I wonder whether he will be able to sit for the final exams because doctors say he still has a long time to recover†she says.
SEVENTEEN-year-old Solomon Okirigi’s face is creased and tiny beads of sweat dot his forehead. He closes his eyes and bites his lower lip; at every slow attempt to take a stride, he gasps in pain. His mother and a friend, on either side of him, help him walk to the toilets at the men’s ward of Tororo Hospital.
Beneath the skimpy pair of shorts he wears on this chilly morning, is a blood-stained plastered patch on his right thigh. Fresh blood trickles down his injured limb.
Okirigi, a Senior Three student at Rock High School in Tororo Municipality, was one of the two students who sustained bullet wounds during a Senior Four leavers’ party at their school on the evening of October 9. The two were shot by Police officers attached to Tororo Police station.
Memories of the fateful evening are still fresh in Okirigi’s mind. He says the party ended at 6:30pm to the chagrin of the students.
“When the entertainment master announced that the party had ended and we should go home, some students protested, insisting that it should continue for sometime.â€
Even when the music was turned off, the students hung around in the hall, but were not doing anything violent, he says.
They were shocked to see armed Police officers, who ordered them off the compound.
“We had converged outside the school gate, talking about the party, before we could leave for home, only to be confronted by the Police officers wielding whips. We scampered in disarray at the crack of the whips on some of the students, whom we heard wailing in pain,†says Okirigi.
William Osuna, who survived the shooting, says from somewhere amid the fleeing students came a barrage of insults, directed at the Police. “We were shocked to see the one of the Police officers aiming the gun in the direction where the insults came from and opening fire,†recalls Joyce Akello.
Okirigi remembers feeling a mild prick in his left thigh, then in the buttock, but ignored it and went on running.
“Suddenly, my legs gave way and I collapsed on the ground. It was then that I realised I had been shot because my trousers were drenched in blood.â€
The bullet entered Okirigi’s body through the right thigh before lodging in the flesh of the left buttock. Simon Edatu, another student, sustained a fracture when a bullet hit his lower left leg, shattering the bone and lodging inside the leg.
A group of students carried Okirigi to the hospital, which was only about 700 metres away from the scene. No sooner had they arrived at the casualty wing than another group followed, carrying Edatu.
Ann Ishagi, Okirigi’s mother, learnt of the shooting incident the following morning. “I came weeping all the way from Malera village in Bukedea, convinced that my son was dead. I am happy he is still alive, and I’m going to sue the Government over the matter as soon as my son gets better,†she says.
It is two weeks since the two students were shot and they have a long road to full recovery.
Tororo Hospital’s bone and joint surgery specialist, Dr. Henry Nambafu, extracted the bullet from okirigi’s body three days after the incident.
“When I scrutinised the injuries, I immediately suspected a bullet could be still lodged in his body and recommended an x-ray review,†recalls the physician. His suspicion was confirmed by the X-ray results.
During the surgery, the physician made a four-centimetre-deep incision in Okirigi’s left buttock to extract the bullet. Nambafu says Okirigi was lucky, as he could have died.
In the upper part of the legs, he says, there is a blood vessel the size of a finger. In the event that the bullet had shattered it, this boy would have bled to death before he could get to the hospital, Nambafu says.
He adds that if the bullet had shattered the thighbone or one of the pelvic bones Okirigi could have failed to walk.
Nambafu says the boy will have problems walking after recoverybecause the bullet tore some muscles in his thighs.
Meanwhile, hospital records showed that in Edatu’s case the bullet shattered the bone in the lower part of the left leg. “After the bullet was removed, his leg was plastered and he was advised to use crutches,†one of the nurses explained.
The Tororo district Police commander, Gaudencio Okumu, declined to comment on the matter. “It is the regional public relations officer in Mbale, ASP Senkumbi who is competent enough to comment on the incident,†he said.
Senkumbi could not be reached for comment. But a report from Tororo central Police station to the deputy resident district commissioner, Richard Gulume, a copy of which The New Vision saw, said the Police officers opened fire on the students in self-defence.
“The students had started pelting them with stones in the ensuing confusion as they urged them to go back to their respective homes,†states the report.
Gulume said the incident was unfortunate and he had ordered the authorities of the Tororo central police station to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book.
Okirigi’s mother regrets that the shooting came at a trying moment, when the students were about to sit for their end-of-year exams. “I wonder whether he will be able to sit for the final exams because doctors say he still has a long time to recover†she says.