Bishop Gatimu's school worker nabbed with stolen girls' underwear

A worker alleged to have been stealing hundreds of school items for the past 10 years has been arrested.

The man, 52, has worked at Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls High School for the past 10 years in which he is suspected of stealing various items ranging from students’ underwear to laboratory equipment.

Mathira West OCPD David Kemboi said the suspect was nabbed after a night guard noticed that a house where one of the school staff members lives was unlocked and the lights turned off at around 3am on Saturday.

“The night guard became suspicious and immediately raised the alarm after which other staff members in the school came to find that several items had been stolen from the house,” Kemboi said.

Members of staff at the school then conducted a house to house search and stumbled on the suspect’s stash of students’ textbooks, laboratory equipment, and desks, bar soaps, pangas, utensils, computers and underwear belonging to the students.

Personal items belonging to the school girls were also found at the house. They included hundreds of bras and sanitary towels and several pairs of spectacles which had gone missing from their dormitories.

The suspect led police to a nearby house where more stolen items from the students and the school library were found.

Among the items recovered by police was a photo of President Uhuru Kenyatta taken with students during his visit to the school earlier this year.

The photograph, which went missing from the school library just days after it had been taken, was perhaps one of the most prominent items stolen from the institution.

Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls was elevated from an extra-county school to national school status and is renowned for its top performance in national examinations.

The theft of school textbooks has become rampant in public schools and the incident has given police a different perspective on the role of workers in the racket.