Parents' cry for justice over deceased student

By Kiundu Waweru

Master Stephen Kuria was set to celebrate his tenth birthday in two weeks time when the angel of death came calling. His death, which occurred on January 10, came two weeks after he had graduated to upper primary at Kangoya Primary School, Kiambu.

His parents say complications that led to the death of the Standard Four pupil resulted from a beating from one of his teachers.

Kuria’s demise was met with shock and disbelief. It was alleged that a teacher physically punished Kuria for skipping a page in his exercise book while doing an assignment.

"I think Kuria had not adapted to using a biro pen," says his father, Daniel Ndung’u, a month after the incident at his one roomed house in Karabaini village, Kiambu.

Ndung’u and his wife Jemima Wairimu are yet to come to terms with the death of their son, whom they describe as obedient and quiet.

Master Stephen Kuria The student was allegedly beaten by a teacher on the back of the neck causing his death, but two months on police are yet to arrest and prosecute the suspect [Photo: Courtesy]

Justice denied

They are particularly concerned that there seems to be an effort to deny them justice. The school administration has never granted them an explanation on what happened to their son or even condoled with them after his death.

To make matters worse, no action was taken against the teacher who allegedly gave the student corporal punishment contrary to the law. Instead, she was only transferred to a school not far away from Kangoya Primary School. "I think it’s because we are poor that no action has been taken against the teacher yet," laments the lean construction labourer. The family lives in a small rental house. Kuria was buried in their farm in Kinangop.

Ndung’u claims that there have been forces trying to cover up the events of that fateful day. He says with the help of Mr Paul Mwangi, a human rights activist working with the Community Bridge Network, they made sure that a government pathologist conducted the autopsy. Mwangi says during the autopsy, a lawyer for the teacher was present to verify the results. Mwangi says he will not rest until the family gets justice.

Cause of death

The autopsy report by Dr Oduor Johansen says that the death of Kuria was as a result of head injury due to blunt trauma.

The report describes Kuria as being of good nutritional status and slim adding: "The external and internal examinations turn a clean bill of health with the cardiovascular system being normal, normal respiratory system as is with gastrointestinal, genital-urinary and central nervous systems."

Two boys who were asked to take Kuria home after the incident give a different version of events. Michael Thuku and Francis Kuria, who are both in Standard Eight and neighbours to the deceased told The Underworld that they had been summoned by a teacher who requested them to take Kuria home. They found Kuria "kneeling" as if he was in pain. He was unable to walk and they carried him home.

Both boys allegedly gave statements to the police saying that they had witnessed Kuria fall in the morning while walking to school. "It is not true. Kuria did not fall that morning as I accompanied him to school. We went playing on the way," counters Emily Njeri, a classmate to Kuria and a witness to the alleged beating.

Emily adds that on that day, January 10, their Social Science teacher came in and started going through the homework she had assigned the previous day.

According to Emily, Kuria had skipped one page and this annoyed the teacher. That is when she punished him by leaning him on the desk and whipping him at the nape of the neck with a bucket handle. "Ahurwo rii, arutiree rurimi njaa (after the beating, Kuria stuck his tongue out)," she adds. That was after break time and as the rest of the children went out for lunch, Kuria remained in the classroom.

Teacher’s intervention

It is at around 4pm that the teacher asked the boys to take Kuria home. The parents say that Kuria was in deep pain and was limping. Standing up made him wince and they rushed him to the Kiambu District Hospital.

"He was treated and discharged," says his father. In the morning, Ndung’u left in search of manual labour. Kuria’s condition worsened and his mother took him back to the hospital.

"Immediately after arriving at the hospital and after some tests, Kuria was put on a drip," remembers the inconsolable youthful mother of three. Kuria was admitted and was complaining of feeling cold in the head.

Ndung’u would arrive at the hospital at 6pm. He says that the health workers told him Kuria had a spinal injury.

Around midnight, Kuria feebly told his mother, who was spending the night with him that he was finding it difficult to breathe. Unbeknown to her, these were the last words she would ever hear from her son. She summoned the nurse.

At around 5 in the morning of January 12, Kuria’s condition worsened. The mother was told to get ready for a referral to Kenyatta National Hospital.

Ndung’u says that his second born son died during the brief journey from the ward to the ambulance.

The media got wind of the story and speaking to The Standard on January 13, the Kiambu District Education Officer, Mr Wachira Chiuri, said the results of the post-mortem examination would determine the action to be taken.

The autopsy result was out two weeks later, but on March 2, Mr Wachira told The Underworld that he was yet to see the autopsy report.

Contradictions

When The Underworld visited the school where the teacher had been transferred, the headmaster, Mr Njoroge Kamau, was with two other teachers. After asking him about the said teacher, Njoroge seemed to think hard, looked at his colleagues as if to ask for advice and when none was forthcoming, he told us that indeed, the teacher was transferred to his school sometimes in January.

The DEO says that there are contradictions in the investigations as several teachers at the school have been accused of corporal punishment. He said he has since transferred three of them.

"This is an interim measure as we await the police to conclude their investigation. Temperatures were high in the school and that is why I decided to transfer the teacher," says Wachira.

"This has been a complicated case but we are through with the investigation. We have forwarded the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions," Kiambu OCPD Samuel Mukindia says.

He says for now, they can take no action against the teacher until they get the file back with instructions on the next course of action.

"You cannot arrest a person unless you have direct instructions," he says.

The OCPD, like the DEO, says that the case is complicated as they are not sure who the accused teacher is.

"There are three teachers accused of caning pupils in the school. The parents and the children, who are the witnesses, gave conflicting statements," he says.