HE CAME TO LOOK FOR GREENER PASTURES BUT IS GOING BACK IN A COFFIN:
The story of how a brother from Cameroon, TONOU-MBOBDA, was brutally battered and suffocated to death by security guards at the university clinic of Hamburg last week Sunday the 21st of April 2019.
While still in Cameroon, young, energetic and thinking of what to do next, his cousin that was like a big brother persuaded him to come on over to Germany to study and he agreed. Shortly after, the cousin processed his papers and he came over here and on arrival, he used the first year to learn the German language before gaining admission to study mechanical engineering at a university, but later changed courses to economics and graduated successfully.
According to his fellow student and friend, upon graduation he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue to live here or go back to Cameroon and after a mind rubbing session where the two talked of their future plans and agreed to work on a project together in Ghana that the friend conceived and was in the process of actualizing, he decided to do his masters and was just about finishing with just a few weeks to go, this tragedy struck and his life and plans were cut short.
Somewhere along the line, probably from the enormous stress from his studies, he realized he wasn’t feeling too well. He was probably suffering from depression or anxiety (a very common thing around the country these days), so he went to the psychiatric department of the university clinic of Hamburg to seek for help, but will soon realise that his condition wasn’t improving but rather getting worse.
He stopped taking his medication just like most of us do, said one of his fellow patients who was also a witness to the tragic incident. It is our right to refuse medication and it’s against the law to force it on us, he further said.
He came outside to smoke a cigarette and I was out here too. We talked and he was nice and jovial as usual. He took a short walk around, came back to where I was and just then a nurse accompanied by three security guards came to him and without much ado, grabbed him and slammed him to the ground. They forcefully handcuffed him, kneeled on his back, sat on him, yanked his head up, forcefully opened his mouth and the nurse administered the drug which he resisted taking and so they covered his and nose for a very long time while he struggled for air.
Observing what was going on, we quickly called the police but before they got there three minutes later, he was already lifeless, said the young man and three other witnesses
He was treated in an undignified manner that no human being should be treated, was the closing remark of one of them.
One of the eyewitnesses who knew that things might be hushed by the hospital management immediately contacted members of the Afro German Community after talking to the police and filing a complaint against the hospital and true to her fears, the hospital and its staff have been trying to place a tight lid on the case.
They initially disregarded the accounts of the eyewitnesses who are also patients saying that they are not mentally fit to give witness, but the patients insisted on talking to the police and not surprising at all they all recounted exactly the same thing and have volunteered to stand up as witnesses for the family of the deceased and the Afro German Community in a lawsuit against the hospital.
Up till now the hospital has not apologised or even offered condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. Instead they’ve been busy giving flimsy excuses and trying to make him look bad while everyone who knew him said he was a very, including fellow patients, calm and jovial person and was never known to be aggressive like they tried to paint him.
Thinking back, I feel guilty because I encouraged him to come to Germany and even processed his papers. If I hadn’t done so, he’d still be alive today and with his family back home in Cameroon, said his cousin…
It’s been a very sad day because while standing in the rain and marching peacefully on the hospital grounds, most of us couldn’t help but think that it could have been us because being black seems to be a crime in this crazy world. Not even Africa is safe for black people to peacefully dwell in, so year in, year out we lose young promising people, mostly men, to the cold claws of racism.
Heartfelt condolences to members of his family.
ADIOS BROTHER… may your gentle soul find eternal peace.
You will always be remembered as a hero who stood his grounds and died in the process.
Report by Lillian Kunu