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Pakistani officials have expressed their “heartfelt condolences” and confirmed they have arrested and charged one of their officers after he was involved in a tragic case of mistaken identity that left a Perth girl dead and her father and brother seriously injured.
Hania Ahmad, 9, was visiting family in Chakwal with her parents on Wednesday and had stopped in to visit her mother’s uncle when the family was confronted outside their rental car.
“Two robbers arrived on a motorcycle. A robber carrying a pistol came to the car and asked Adeel and Sidra to hand over her jewellery and cash,” a family member told local media outlet Dawn.
He said his niece handed over some jewellery, but the incident drew the attention of a nearby Crime and Control Department official who went to retrieve a firearm before opening fire on the two thieves.
Hania’s father, Adeel Ahmad, drove their rental car away from the scene, with police mistaking the vehicle for the thieves’ and giving chase, peppering it with bullets.
Adeel, 39, eventually lost control of the car and it crashed.
Hania was pronounced dead at the scene while her father and brother, believed to be 10 years old, were taken to hospital for treatment. Adeel has since been discharged. Hania’s mother was unharmed in the shooting.
The Crime and Control Department announced an update to the incident late on Sunday confirming it was investigating the officer involved.
“The officer in question was suspended and taken into custody on the same day,” it said.
“He was later formally arrested and presented to court from where he was sent to jail on judicial remand.
“The department is in contact with the affected family on a daily basis to present them to the ongoing investigation.”
The department said Hania’s family have expressed “satisfaction” with the speed and transparency of the legal process, and said the incident was a tragedy where an innocent girl had lost her life.
Speaking to SBS Urdu, Adeel urged the Australian government to engage with Pakistani authorities to help ensure a thorough investigation and justice for his family amid conflicting police accounts of the shooting.
Local media outlet Dawn reported the two thieves who had been involved in the original incident had since been killed in “an encounter with the CDC” just three hours after Hania had been shot dead.
Officials told the outlet the two men had been involved in a spree of robberies prior to their deaths, including the theft of a motorbike, the shooting of a CDC official, and looting a local vendor.
They alleged the men would dress up as a couple, with one in a women’s gown, in order to mark their targets.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has already confirmed it was providing consular assistance to the Admads.
“We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.
Hania attended the Australian Islamic College in Kewdale, in Perth’s south-east.
Principal Abdullah Khan said the school held a special assembly on Friday to remember Hania.
“We are in a state of shock and disbelief, it’s an extremely tragic event that has happened to this innocent girl and her family,” he told 9 News Perth.
“She was an excellent, happy, bubbly, friendly student in our college.
“Her friends, and the people who she played with at the college, and interacted with, they’re all extremely sad and disheartened.”
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