At the time of going to press no suspect was arrested in connection with the matter. However, police in Basse have invited several people who were named to have participated in wounding those cattle for questioning. The matter is currently under investigation by the Basse Police.
An anonymous source who spoke to The Point on the condition of anonymity has confirmed the development to our reporter, while describing the incident as “unfortunate”.
“When the incident happened on Tuesday, the Police were not on the ground. However, I understand that the police were later informed about the incident and some names of individuals who participated in attacking the cattle herd were given to them. I can tell you that those individuals were invited for questioning at the Basse Police Station.”
Meanwhile, another source that spoke to our reporter on the same matter said the herd of cattle that were attacked were in Sinchu Demba village of Wulli West.
“The community that attacked the cattle never wanted the cattle to be in that village on the grounds that they feared that the cattle would destroy their farms lands.”
“They attacked the cattle and cut all their ropes, beat them and chased them into the bush. The cattle went into the bush and eventually intruded and invaded and destroyed the farms belonging to Touba Woppa village. The district chief was later informed about the incident and he immediately dispatched a team to verify the claims. The police were later informed about the incident and I am aware that some people have been invited for questioning.”
Barra Sabally, the owner of the cattle who spoke to our reporter on a Telephone Interview described the incident as “sad”. “The government must do something about the matter to ensure that justice is served. We will sacrifice our lives if such an incident ever happened again.”
He said: “My cattle herd was attacked at night. They came with cutlasses and started wounding my cattle and stoning them. At the moment I can confirm to you that five cattle that were seriously wounded can’t even walk and 20 other cattle are still missing,” he said.
Quizzed by the reporter whether the cattle destroyed farm lands belonging to farmers in that area, he answered in the negative, claiming that the people that attacked his cattle never wanted the cattle in that area. “The reason why my cattle were in Sinchu Demba is that we didn’t have enough water for the cattle to drink at my village.”
Some cattle, he went, were “seriously wounded on in stomach” while others in different parts of their bodies. “I have never seen such an incident in my entire life. How can someone attack cattle that did nothing to you? This is total madness and we want the government to take an urgent action in this matter.”
