Police to Charge Grandfather of 6-Yr-Old Who Shot Brother

Police in the Eastern Region say they are considering charging the grandfather of the 6-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed his younger brother.

He is expected to be charged with abetment of the crime after his gun was used in the incident .

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Regional Police Command, DSP Ebenezer Tetteh, the laws of the country prevent pre-teens from being prosecuted when they commit criminal offences.

He said the police were instead proceeding with their investigations to ascertain whether the boys’  grandfather played a part in the incident by not properly concealing the weapon from the children.

“Under the laws of Ghana, if a child who is below the age of 12 commits an offence, the law says that they are not available to be tried because they don’t understand the repercussions of their actions,” he told Citi News.

“As we speak now, we are going to invite the grandfather and he’ll be a potential suspect. If we conclude our investigations we could find that possibly he left the gun loose. We hope to charge him for abetment, if we are able to establish conclusively that he left the gun unattended to.”

The incident occurred at Somanya in the Lower Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region.

The two boys were reported to have been playing with the gun, which belongs to their grandfather, whilst their parents were out of the house.

The gun is also said to have been unregistered.

According to tenants who live close to the family, they heard a gunshot, and rushed out only to find the deceased child in a pool of blood.

Citi News sources at the Somanya Police said preliminary investigations indicated that the gun was fired at a close range of about three meters, with the deceased sustaining the fatal wound to the head.

The body of the young boy has since been deposited at the Atua Government Hospital.