A nine-year-old boy accidentally shot himself dead with a pistol he found under his father’s mattress at Asofan, near Amasaman in Accra.
The boy, identified as Michael Asante, a primary four pupil, was found in a pool of blood with the pistol lying about half a metre away after his mother and other neighbours heard the gunshot.
It was reported that Asante had shot himself with a gun belonging to his father, Mr Stephen Adomako, a 31-year-old carpenter, in a provision shop operated by his mother, Hagar Amponsah, 33.
Father in police custody
The Achimota Mile Seven District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Peter Ayembilla, said Adomako was being held by the police for possessing a firearm without authority.
He said at about 5pm on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, policemen from Sowutuom lodged a complaint that a boy had shot himself and handed over Adomako to the Mile Seven Police.
Adomako, the father of the deceased, is said to have told the police that the locally manufactured pistol and some machetes were left by some armed robbers who attacked him in the shop two years ago. Adomako claimed the robbers fled when the police approached the scene so he handed over the machetes to the police.
He said he had been keeping the pistol under his mattress for self-protection since the robbery in 2012.
Boy was playing with pistol
Mr Ayembilla was of the view that the boy might have seen the pistol under his father’s mattress and started playing with it when he accidentally pressed the trigger.
“It is possible that in the course of playing with the pistol, he pointed it at his head and pressed the trigger, shooting himself in the head,” said Mr Ayembilla.
During interrogation, the mother of the deceased, Ms Amponsah, told the police that she had been delivered of her third child two weeks ago and was cleaning the shop, which had been closed for some time, in order to resume her trading activities.
The Mile Seven Commander said Ms Amponsah explained that two of her children, including the two-week old baby, were sleeping on a mattress in the shop.
“While she was cleaning the shop, her son, Michael, emerged from their house, which is not far from the shop, and told her he wanted to sleep so she asked him to go and join the other siblings on the mattress in the shop.”
Not long after, “she heard a sound which frightened her but she could not tell where it came from. She took to her heels only to be told by some neighbours that the sound had come from her shop,” said Mr Ayembilla.
In the shop, she found her son lying on the floor with blood oozing out of his head.