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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere\n is no consensus on the exact time of the deadly crash and crush, but \nthe official time recorded in a police report is 15:28 GMT. Until that \nminute, June 2, 2016, was an uneventful Thursday in the school. Classes \nwere over and a good number of the children had left. About half a dozen\n children were still waiting to be picked up by their parents. This \nspace is a concrete floor, about the size of a volleyball court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\n is the safest spot in the school,\u201d says Madam Elizabeth Cofie, the head\n teacher of the school at the time. \u201cThat\u2019s where the students wait for \ntheir parents to pick them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If\n you stood in front of the container library and looked away from it, \nyou would face the Gladys Asmah Street, which is the eastern boundary of\n the school. If you follow this street with your eyes, a few metres to \nyour right, it hits a T-junction at the Services Schools Street. At this\n T-junction, the Services School\u2019s Street descends to the left away from\n the school and goes to the Takoradi town. The right turn borders the \nschool and climbs up towards Beach Road. Between this school and the two\n roads are open drains or gutters, which separate the streets from the \nconcrete platform, where pupils wait to be picked up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\n was considered the safest spot on campus because if a vehicle veered \noff the road, it would definitely fall into the open drain. That posed \nno danger to pupils waiting to be picked in front of the library. On \nthat day, however, it was the most dangerous spot in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\n Toyota Corolla with Registration Number WR 1225\u20136, descended from the \nGladys Asmah Street, hit the T-Junction at the Schools Street, turned \nright and began to climb towards Beach Road. After about 10 metres of \nclimbing, the vehicle, as if possessed by supernatural powers, made a \n90-degree turn. It jumped the open gutter, landed on the waiting area \nand continued towards the library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeremiah Arthur, a six-year-old Primary One pupil, was among the children in the waiting area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s\n mother, thirty-eight-year-old Betty Mensah was in the kitchen that \nafternoon. Betty, a food vendor at Bompeh Senior High School, had bought\n ingredients and started to prepare for the following day. From the \nkitchen, she heard a shrill voice screaming her name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJerry Maame! Jerry Maame!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\n she rushed out, she realised it was Christian, a boy in the \nneighbourhood who often passed by accompanying young Jerry to school. \nBetty did not need to ask any question. Christian started speaking as \nsoon as he spotted her: \u201cJerry has been knocked by a car and has had his\n leg chopped off,\u201d Christian said, still panting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt that point, I grew weak. My breath was failing,\u201d Betty Mensah recounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\n told her to ignore the boy because children could say anything,\u201d Olivia\n Addae, a 58-year old woman who lives in the same house recalls how she \ntried in vain to tame Betty Mensah\u2019s emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\n told her that children don\u2019t lie. What they hear or see is what they \nreport so Christian would not be lying about Jerry if it had not \nhappened,\u201d says Betty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Betty\n and Olivia stopped everything they were doing and jumped into the next \navailable taxi they could find. Once seated, they told the driver to \ndrive to the hospital closest to Jerry\u2019s School. When they got to the \n\u201cEuropean Hospital\u201d, they were told a medical case that fitted their \ndescription had been brought there but had been referred to the Ghana \nPorts and Harbours Authority Hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\n they got to the \u201cGHAPOHA Hospital\u201d, the nurses said they had received a\n call that such a case was on its way to the hospital and they had \nprepared the theatre but the case did not come. The suggestion was that \nthey should go to Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the hospital, the first person Jerry\u2019s mother noticed was his son\u2019s head teacher, Elizabeth Cofie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom\n the way the head teacher was behaving, I didn\u2019t need to ask further \nquestions. I started crying,\u201d Jerry\u2019s mother says. She was prevented \nfrom going to see her son. What had happened earlier in the day had \nshocked everybody and not many of them could bear to see Jerry in that \ncondition. And they thought her mother should be spared the bloody scene\n inside the hospital. For those who witnessed it in the school, it was \ngorier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Panic-stricken\n Jerry and his colleague pupils had been closer to the danger than their\n teacher, Mr Bukari, and his friend. They reacted the same way the \nteacher and his friend did. In different directions, they ran for their \nyoung lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n darted towards the container library. The container is mounted on a \nraised concrete platform. If he climbed onto the platform, the vehicle \ncould not pose any danger to him, he thought. The edge of the platform \nhad a one-block layer. When Jerry got to the platform, he could not jump\n over it at once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He tossed his right leg over the little wall and was about to raise his left leg across to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\n Toyota Corolla was haphazard when it broke loose from its lane. But it \npicked its target with unmistakable precision. It went directly to the \nplatform, the exact spot Jerry was about to scale and slammed Jerry\u2019s \nleg against the wall. The vehicle came to a violent halt, but the engine\n was still roaring. The driver of the vehicle had mistaken the \naccelerator for a brake, according to the police report, and kept her \nfoot on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After\n the initial panic, those who had escaped, including Kwabena Bukari, \nrushed back to the scene. Jerry was still trapped between the vehicle \nand the raised platform. A man, who was driving past the school but \nstopped because of the situation, jumped onto the concrete platform of \nthe library and lifted Jerry up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His left leg was missing. And his right leg was fractured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n was too traumatised to cry. When he was lifted up, he looked down and \nrealised his left leg was gone. Mr Bukari remembers a facial expression \nthat looked like a smile. But all attention was on Jerry, and not the \nmissing leg. He was quickly rushed into another vehicle and taken to the\n hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\n was when we pushed the car backwards that we saw the other leg under \nthe bonnet,\u201d says Mr Bukari. \u201cThere were also broken bones on the ground\n so we gathered everything into a polythene bag and took it to the \nhospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doctors at the Effia Nkwanta Hospital said the bones and the severed leg were useless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At\n the Effia Nkwanta Hospital, the Coordinator of Schools at 2 Garrison in\n Takoradi, Staff Sergeant Inusah Habib, and a teacher in the school \ndonated blood for Jerry, who was bleeding profusely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s father, Ebenezer Arthur, was numb with shock when he got into the ward to see his son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen\n we got to the casualty ward, I saw the child. He said to me, \u201cDaddy, \nI\u2019m in pain. Daddy, I\u2019m in pain.\u201d When I looked towards his legs, I \nrealised one of his legs was missing,\u201d Ebenezer Arthur says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\n went on, \u201cI could not react or show emotions because I was advised not \nto do anything to alarm him. I told him everything would be all right. \nThey put a drip on him but as it continued, one of the soldiers was not \nimpressed with the treatment. He conferred with the headmistress and \nthen called his superior and suggested a referral.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lt.\n Col. Livingstone Penti, the Officer in Charge of Education at 2 \nGarrison, made further calls to his superiors and arrangements were \nunderway within 30 minutes for an evacuation of the boy. The army\u2019s \nmedical team arrived with an ambulance and Jerry was on his way to the \n37 Military Hospital in Accra. Both of Jerry\u2019s parents could not gather \nenough strength to go with their son so his uncle went climbed into the \nambulance to Accra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s parents say but for the intervention of the military, they might have lost their son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wailing\n and prayers characterized the household that night. There was no \nappetite for food. His mother could not eat until the following day when\n she requested to go and see the exact spot her son was knocked down. \nShe was compelled to eat \u201csomething small\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought seeing the spot of the accident would provide some relief, but it rather worsened how I felt,\u201d Jerry\u2019s mother says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Betty\n Mensah and her husband have four children, two of them being hers. \nAfter their marriage, it took four years before she had the first seed \nof her womb, a girl. She had to wait another three years before Jerry \nwas born. She wished for more, but the time and resources required to \ntake care of Jerry (after his accident) made it imprudent to have \nanother child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the 37 Military Hospital, the medical team diagnosed four issues with his condition: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Crush injury right foot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Open fracture right leg (Tibia\/Fibula)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Traumatic Amputation to the left leg<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blunt abdominal trauma<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s\n mother got to the 37 Military Hospital three days later. She had longed\n to see her son, but when she finally did, she could not look at him. \nHer vision was blurred with tears. Jerry just stared at her blankly. He \nwould not respond to his name, except tears from the pains he suffered. \nHis mother was advised to leave the hospital because the crying did not \nonly affect her but also the boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she got to a relative\u2019s house in Awoshie, a suburb of Accra, she had a call from the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJerry\n wants to see you,\u201d her sister, who had joined her brother to take care \nof Jerry, told her over the phone. She did not leave the hospital until \nJerry was discharged nearly seven months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n spent about a year out of school. For several reasons, he could not \nreturn to the Garrison Basic School where the accident happened. The 2 \nGarrison Education Unit, led by Lt. Col. Penti, decided to take him to \nthe Naval Base Basic School. That school was closer to Jerry\u2019s home. \nMadam Elizabeth Cofie, who headed Garrison Basic School at the time of \nJerry\u2019s accident, had now been transferred to Naval Base Basic School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe thought she understood the boy\u2019s condition better and would be in a better position to manage him,\u201d Lt. Col. Penti explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\n main reason Jerry has been transferred to another school was that his \nold school was not disability-friendly. A wheelchair cannot move to any \nof the classrooms. The toilet is far from the classroom and a wheelchair\n cannot get there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n has two wheelchairs, one at home and another in school. The one in \nschool aids his movement and serves as his chair in the classroom. His \nnew school, Naval Base Basic School, better accommodates his condition, \nbut it cannot be said to be disability friendly either. His wheelchair \ncan move to only one classroom unimpeded. To make this possible, the \nschool had to construct a special rump at the entrance of this \nclassroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n is in Primary 3, but it is the JHS block, which is accessible by \nwheelchair. For this reason, the school has moved Primary 3 to the JHS \nblock and Jerry would spend the next six years in the same classroom \nuntil he leaves the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s\n mobility is not the only burden the family has to deal with. The \naccident has left the family with serious financial challenges. The 37 \nMilitary Hospital absorbed part of his medical bills, but there is still\n a lot of cost involved in the continuous medical treatments<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow,\n we have to use a taxi anywhere we go,\u201d Jerry\u2019s mother explains. \u201cEvery \nmorning he has to school in a taxi and comes home in a taxi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\n had two Urvan buses and a taxi. I\u2019ve sold one Urvan and the taxi. The \nremaining Urvan has broken down and is parked behind this workshop,\u201d \nsays Jerry\u2019s father, Ebenezer Arthur, a car sprayer in Takoradi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s lawyers have begun legal processes to get him compensated, but it appears that might take a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\n driver of the vehicle, which knocked Jerry was a 62-year-old spare \nparts dealer, Martha Amponsah. (She\u2019s now 64.) She was charged with \n\u201cdangerous driving\u201d and \u201cnegligently causing harm\u201d. She pleaded guilty \nto both charges and was sentenced to a fine of GHS1800 ($400), which she\n paid to the court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources\n close to the scene of the accident allege she did not have the \nrequisite documentation to drive the car at the time of the accident. A \npolice report sighted by Joy News reveals the vehicle she was driving \nwas registered in 2016, the year of the accident. Her driver\u2019s license \nwas issued on June 1st, 2016, just a day before the accident. The \nvehicle\u2019s insurance was issued on June 2nd, 2016, the same day she \nknocked Jeremiah Arthur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\n Joy News contacted Martha Amponsah, she declined to comment on the \naccident. According to Jerry\u2019s parents, she visits at an interval of \nthree to six months and sometimes presents an envelope of between GHc200\n and GHc300 to Jerry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Jerry\u2019s family continue to bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe\n financial challenges are unbearable. When I speak to the woman, she \ntalks about the insurance. The insurance company is yet to respond so I\n rely on loans. The pressure from the bank is what made me sell my \nvehicles.\u201d Jerry\u2019s father lamented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\u2019s mother has stopped selling food. Taking care of Jerry is her full-time job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImagine\n such a young child sitting in a wheelchair the whole day. Sometimes he \ntells me, \u2018Mama Betty, I\u2019m tired.\u2019 When he wants to visit the toilet, I \nhave to always be there to assist. I am now his leg. I cannot do \nanything,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n is an intelligent boy with a promising future. This is a unanimous \nobservation by his teachers and people who encounter him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n was in Primary One when the accident happened. When he returned to \nschool, his colleagues were in Primary Three. He was taken to Primary \nTwo, but the teachers soon realised he was brilliant enough to join his \npeers in Primary Three. They promptly promoted him, and he\u2019s among the \nbest three in the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry\n wanted to be a soldier, a reason he was sent to a school run by the \nmilitary. With a half leg, that dream appears over. He now shuffles \nbetween being a gospel artiste and a pastor of the Assemblies of God \nChurch, where he worships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even\n though he is intelligent and has a promising future, that cannot wish \naway tall and thorny hurdles he must scale to reach his goal. As he \ngrows, his movement in the school is going to be a challenge. His \nwheelchair can only access his classroom without a hindrance, and as he \ngets older and heavier, he cannot be carried around the compound by his \nteachers and his peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\n health worker told Joy News it might be difficult to have a prosthetic \nleg because the amputation was very deep. Coupled with the fact that \nmost facilities such as schools do not make provision for his condition,\n the future looks uncertain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I asked Jerry what he would desire if he had only one wish to make, he had no difficulty saying what it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat wish must be to have another leg,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joy\n News\u2019 Manasseh Azure Awuni spent months visiting Jerry and his family \nand often met them when they visited the 37 Military Hospital for \nmedical reviews or surgery. The facts and narrations contained in this \nstory are based on interviews with multiple sources of persons who \nwitnessed the accident as well as reliance on medical records and police\n reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who feel touched to support Jerry can call his mother on 0540919129<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Young](\"http:\/\/photos.myjoyonline.com\/photos\/news\/201812\/2154620262380_5852475838683.jpg\")
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