By Brima Sannoh
A senior police officer, Detective Sub-Inspector Steven C.M. Gomeh, has been arrested and detained at the southern regional police headquarters in Bo, southern Sierra Leone for allegedly killing Ibrahim Jaiah, a 14-year-old primary school boy over his alleged involvement in gambling.
Abdul Jaiah, the father of the deceased, who was a class six pupil of the Roman Catholic Primary School in Sahn Malen, confirmed the incident.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning on June 30, 2024 in Sahn Malen, according to the spokesman of the Sierra Leone Police for Pujehun Division, Assistant Superintendent Kenawa John Squire.
Panic gripped the entire Malen community on the day of the incident, as hundreds of community members rushed to both the police station and the hospital to ascertain what happened.
Mr. Gomeh, who has been described by many as an experienced Crime Officer who has served the police force for over 34 years, was recently transferred to the Sahn Malen Police Station to help curb crime in the community. He was reportedly on his way home from a church service when he bumped into a group of young boys who were busy gambling. ASP Squire told Radio Malen that in an attempt by the police officer to arrest the boys, the deceased put up a resistance while his colleagues escaped from the scene.
The police media officer stated: “The challenge from the boy aggravated the situation which led to the officer allegedly hitting the deceased who later collapsed, and was rushed to the Sahn Community Health Center by the very officer.”
According to ASP Squire, Gomeh also informed his boss, the Officer Commanding at Sahn Police Station, about the incident after realizing that the boy was motionless. It was during that period that Assistant Superintendent Michael Tommy, Head of Sahn Police Station, ordered the arrest of Mr. Gomeh, after the doctors confirmed the death of the boy.
Officer Gomeh who appeared traumatized said in the hospital: “It was nothing intentional. It was an accident. Everybody knows that I am a peaceful and professional person and this is my first ever experience since I became a police officer in the late 1980s.”
The corpse was immediately transferred to Freetown yesterday for postmortem examination, while the suspect remains in custody in Bo.
