‘Six girls sexually abused by head teacher’

Police in Athi River have launched investigations into allegations that six pupils have been abused by their headteacher.

Last week, parents of Lukenya zone held a peaceful demonstration protesting against the alleged sexual assault, which led to the arrest of the headteacher.

Athi River OCPD Kizito Mutoro said the teacher was arrested and later released on a cash bail pending investigations.

''He was supposed to appear before court on Friday last week but since some witnesses had not recorded statements we had to extend the date until we compile and complete our investigations,'' he said.

The headteacher is accused of sexually assaulting the girls who are in Standard Six and Eight. Two of them are said to have fallen pregnant.

Shockingly, some of the parents are said to have been compromised and have allegedly agreed to settle the matter out of court, thus frustrating police investigations.

The parents were allegedly compromised after the headteacher was released on bail, reportedly following intervention by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).

Some parents accused a local Knut official of trying to protect the headteacher.

But the official said his work is to protect teachers irrespective of the allegations against them.

''I have no regrets since my work is to protect the teacher whether innocent or otherwise until proved guilty,'' said the Knut official.

fact-finding mission

The Athi River Education Officer Joseph Kiema, said his team and that of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) would visit the school today on a fact-finding mission.

He said the Ministry of Education and TSC will not condone teachers who abuse children.

Kiema said everything will be done to ensure the truth is established and the necessary action taken.

The headtecher, he revealed, was arrested after the angry parents raised the alarm but said he was later released under unknown circumstances instead of being taken to court.

A letter from TSC made available to The Standard revealed another case in the area where a teacher was interdicted after sexually molesting his pupil.

A survey revealed that there are many allegations of abuse of children by teachers in Lukenya, but most of the suspects get away with it after they compromise poor and ignorant parents of the victims.