By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
THE 13-year-old girl who was accidentally shot in school was coached by her pistol-wielding classmate to lie about her gunshot wound, the victim’s father told three city council committees during a joint meeting on Tuesday.
The girl’s father told councilors that the boy told the wounded child to peddle a fabricated story about the accident.
“Gi-ingnan siya sa boy nga, ‘Nagdula ta daplin sa construction site and you were hit (by a) metal rod,” he said.
He said his daughter was coached into fabricating a story while the boy was accompanying her to the clinic of the Oro Christian Grace School (OCGS) in Macasanding.
Before the accidental shooting, the young son of the military official placed two plastic toy guns and a real gun on his armchair inside a classroom, the father said.
He said his daughter went to another classroom to mingle with other students and the boy subsequently went there, too. Moments later, he said, a bullet pierced through his daughter’s side.
At the clinic, he said, his daughter first told the nurse that she fell down the stairs and hit with something hard. But the boy, according to the girl’s father, quickly “corrected” his daughter in front of the nurse: “Di ba, [girl’s name], nga nagdula man ’ta sa construction site, then you were hit by a metal rod.”
The father said the nurse treated the girl’s wound with “ice water.”
“But ingon pod akong anak nga it was uncomfortable,” the father said.
He said his daughter told him that she transferred from a dental chair and then to a bed.
“Pero wala si nurse didto. Si nurse busy checking sa temperatures sa mga students at that time. So, paghuman og hatag ni nurse sa ice, mibalik siya sa iyang trabaho. Ang nabilin didto ang mga bata ra--the boy nga kadtong nakasala and ang akong anak,” the father told the city council committees.
He said the boy also told his daughter not to panic.
Since his daughter complained of the pain caused by the ice water, the boy wrapped it with some tissue paper and insulated it further by putting cotton swabs around the ice water, he said.
It was at that time, the father said, that his daughter asked to borrow a cellphone so she could call her mother.
“So, kadtong iyang friend misaka pa sa second floor to get her phone and pagbalik niya mao to time nga nakatawag siya sa akong wife. Sabi niya, ‘Ma, there is a wound in my tummy,” he said.
His wife, he said, was on the way to the Land Transportation Office but rushed back to the school after receiving the girl’s call.
“And then, paghuman adto, siguro, nakabalik na ang nurse sa clinic kay klase naman. At that time, she gave my daughter Betadine and jell,” the father said.
He said his wife was already en route to the school when the nurse called and when she arrived, she was told her daughter was wounded because of a metal rod.
“Through and through man ang wound—sa atobang, migawas sa likod sa likid—and my wife panicked kay nag-bleed pa man ang wound,” he said.
He said his wife told the nurse that they really had to rush her daughter to the hospital. The nurse, he said, asked his wife if she could still drive her daughter to the hospital. His wife, shaking and panicking, replied that someone else had to drive for them.
He noted that it also took a while for the school vehicle to be made available.
The nurse, he said, then asked his wife if she should go with her to the hospital. “Ingon akong wife nga ‘Alang-alang, mokuyog gyud ka kay ikaw man ang naka first aid sa among anak. Kay basin nay pangutana ang doktor, dili ko katubag.’”
The father said his daughter reached the Madonna and Child Hospital past 8 am. The accidental firing took place at around 7 am.
