Victim of Military Brutality Ungoing Second Phase of Treatment

Christopher Bama

After one month (from 1^st April to 29^th April 2016) of going through unstable condition, Christopher Bama, the 16 year old boy who was severally assaulted and tortured by some five soldiers from the Tamale Airborne Force, is now assigned a Clinical Psychologist to critically examine his mental condition. 

The boy, who is said to be vomiting and passing frequent toilet with traces of blood, according to the Senior Brother, Richard Bama, is now referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for an advanced mental or psychiatric examination. 

Christopher was on admission at the Nsawam Government Hospital for weeks where his condition was considerably stabilized. Doctors according to his senior brother had confirmed that the little boy indeed went through intense shock and pain through the severe beating and torture which they (the doctors) claimed had affected his state of mind. 

Richard Bama, the Senior Brother of Christopher Bama told Savannahnews that, the Clinical Psychologist at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital had been very receptive towards his brother and was doing a lot to ensure he regained his senses.

“The Doctor calls almost every three hours to find out how Christopher is faring”.

At the moment I will say Christopher is doing welll. But mostly when you talk to him, he only looks at you in the face without answering you. And when he tries to open his mouth, anything he says does not make sense. He is either talking about the soldiers or saying they want to kill him”.

However, Richard Bama observed that his brother would surely survive and regain his senses, with God on their side and commended the doctors at Nsawam for doing their best.

“The Doctors told me that Christopher’s body has received a lot of punishment and because of that it has affected his state of mind. So sometimes if you see him remained quite it does not mean that the mind is condemned or is in a hopeless state. Christopher now asks himself a lot of meaningless questions and you can see that his mind is far away but the body is there. One unfortunate thing is that any little touch on his body he screams loudly because according to the Doctors he is probably suspected that someone is going to inflict more paid on him or torture him the more”.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nortey Dua, the Clinical Psychologist handling Christopher Bama confirmed that the patient had been referred to their facility (Korle Bu Teaching Hospital) for further attention.

He said that he was not ready to relay any detail information on the Patient to the media, but could only hint that serious assessment was being carried out on Christopher and assured of the best of care.

The 16 year old Christopher Bama was accused of stealing a TECNO mobile phone belonging to one Corporal Sampson Atuahene of the Tamale Airborne Force. 

Corporal Atuahene and his four other soldier friends including one Collins Agyei Boamah were alleged to have handcuffed and hanged the boy on top of a mango tree.  With his legs not touching the ground, the 16 year old boy, believed to be a long-standing errand boy for Corporal Sampson Atuahene, was severely beaten by the soldiers.

The soldiers, according to an eyewitness, melted plastic material (polythene bags) and dropped them on Christopher’s naked body severally.

According to Patience Bama, a Senior Sister of Christopher Bama, the boy went to the military quarters at Nyohini old airport in Tamale to fetch water with someone’s motorbike. Later, the soldiers called him to come back to the quarters, where they accused him of stealing the mobile phone and brutally assaulted him. 

He was rushed to the God Cares Community Hospital in Tamale and was later transferred to the Nsawam Government Hospital. Christopher could not pass urine, and was, therefore, given a foley catheter to aid his urination. Before his transfer to Nsawam Government Hospital, the victim according to the Chief Executive Officer of God Cares Community Hospital in Tamale, Dr. Richard Opoku the patient (victim) had started behaving abnormally and was persistently vomiting, which, he said, was a sign of a suspected intracranial injury (head injury).

His condition, according to Doctor Opoku, was not getting better as further medical examination revealed that he had started discharging some fluid in the abdomen, and that they could not readily determine whether it was blood or peritoneal fluid.

At the moment, Christopher Bama is referred to the psychiatric unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra for medical examination and rehabilitation.