Bimbilla killings: Family seek justice for woman killed by gunman in husband’s room

It’s been exactly three weeks after the gruesome murder of Rahinatu Alhassan at her residence in Bimbilla, but her children and husband are yet to recover from the shock.

The family is in disarray and with the support of sympathizers wants justice for Rahinatu.

The deceased had her life cut short by a yet to be identified gunman on Tuesday December 12, 2017 in front of her four children, one as young as 4 years with the oldest being 19.

Rahinatu Alhassan, 40, and a native of Bimbilla was shot several times according to officials at the Bimbilla Government Hospital.

Her second child, 14 year-old Khadija Bediako recalled seeing the gunman who opened fire on them, standing at the door that leads to their father’s room on that fateful day, where they were watching television at about 8:00pm

The husband of Rahinatu Alhassan, who works at the Karaga District Assembly, was away during the incident but experienced the horrific ordeal via phone as he was on the phone with wife at the time she was shot .

“I had a call from a friend that they have heard gunshots around my vicinity and they want me to check if everything is fine in my house so I called my wife and asked if he has heard any gunshot.

“My wife said she hasn’t heard anything because they are inside the room and those were her last words, I heard gunshots at the background and no word came from my wife again.

“…so I called my friend again and told him that I heard gunshots and my wife scream whiles I was speaking to her so he should kindly go to my family’s rescue which he promised to do. I then called my wife’s phone again, my son picked the call and told me what had happened but didn’t say his mother was dead. I told him to remain calm whilst they wait to be rescued, it was at that time that I heard a knock on the door so I asked that my son to open because I knew it was security officers, the first word from one of the officers was oooohhhh the woman is dead”, Bediako said in tears.

A police report from the Bimbilla Police Command confirmed the claims by the children but added that Abraham Bediako, husband of the late Rahinatu was the target.

But the police report did not establish what the motive behind the target was. Asked why he was the target, Abraham Bediako responded, “I have never had a quarrel with anybody before in this town so I don’t know why I was the target”.

Khadija Bediako, a Junior High School 3 student of the Presbyterian

School sat next to her mum when the incident happened.

“We were in my father’s room watching television when my father called that he hears of gunshots in our vicinity and are we fine, I heard my mother tell him we’re inside the room and fine adding she hasn’t heard any gunshots, that was when I saw a man by our door, I told my mother to watch and before she could turn to look, the gunman shot at her. He continued shooting into the room and that was when a bullet got my left hand,” fear stricken Khadija narrated.

She said she no longer feel safe to stay in Bimbilla.

Mohammed Kamil Bediako, 19, a senior high school 3 student of the Bimbilla Senior High School, the first child of late Rahinatu and Bediako, recounted how he watched his mother take her last breathe.

“My mother and sister kept screaming, I didn’t know what to do but fortunately, my father called again and said we should remain calm that some security officers were coming soon, my mother took her last breathe whilst I held on to her hoping to be rescued, I used my hand to brush her eyes when they were whitish”.

The other two children of late Rahinatu Alhassan are currently living with their grandmother, we gathered.

A total of 10 women and 2 children were killed between February 9 and December 12, 2017 in Bimbilla.

This has raised the fears of women who took to the streets of Bimbilla to demand an end to the killing of women and children in the Chieftaincy dispute between the Andani Dasana and Nakpa feuding factions.

The District Chief Executive Yakubu Abdulai has revealed he now walks with shame as the news of the killing of women in Bimbilla sends horrifying signal to the world.