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TSC steps in as details emerge on how young Joy was punched to death


The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has opened investigations into the death of a Standard Three girl at Mukandamia Primary School in Laikipia County after she was allegedly beaten by a teacher and other pupils.

In a statement to newsrooms, the Commission said that its officers were probing the matter it described as disturbing.

“The loss of a young and innocent pupil such as Joy Wangari, under whatever circumstances, is both sad and regrettable. Thus when the incident reported, investigations were immediately commenced. TSC and Ministry of Education officials are still on the ground in order to establish the actual circumstances under which the pupil died,” read the statement in part.

INVESTIGATIONS TAKEN UP BY DCI

Laikipia County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha also confirmed that the case has been taken up by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) who will oversee the postmortem to determine the cause of the girl’s death.

“Already the matter has been reported to the DCI Laikipia Central and detectives led by the Divisional Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO) will begin investigations immediately,” said Mr Kyatha.

Parents leave after a meeting at Mukandamia Solio Ranch Primary school in Laikipia county on January 30, 2017. Parents withdrew their children from the institution following allegations that a Standard Three pupil was beaten to death by her male class teacher. PHOTO | FILE
Parents leave after a meeting at Mukandamia Solio Ranch Primary school in Laikipia county on January 30, 2017. Parents withdrew their children from the institution following allegations that a Standard Three pupil was beaten to death by her male class teacher. PHOTO | FILE

The detectives from DCI, however, had not visited the school or recorded any statements by press time.

This comes as details emerged that Joy Waguthi Wangari was actually among pupils who were interviewed by the ministry of education during an exercise to vet the quality of the outgoing 8-4-4 education system.

COULD NOT READ

The pupil was proved to be one of the pupils who could not read and write properly, which is the same reason that led her teacher to beat her up and order her desk mates to do the same.

“My granddaughter could not read and even the teachers knew that,” said a teary Esther Wangui, the girl’s guardian as she had been orphaned at a tender age.

The teacher is also said to have beaten the girl outside the class before dragging her into the classroom and ordered two boys to beat her if she could not read.

The boys according to the deceased’s twin sister who was also her classmate, heeded to the orders and attacked the girl, one of them kicking her on the back while the other punched her multiple times in her lower abdomen.

“When her sister came to get me so we could take Joy home, she said that their teacher had told two boys to beat her because she could not read,” said Ms Wangui.

GIVEN PAIN KILLERS

The girl was rushed to a Naromoru hospital Friday where she was given a prescription of pain killers and instructed to get an X-ray scan on Monday.

“Her condition worsened over the weekend and on Sunday we decided to rush her to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Mweiga because she was vomiting blood and bleeding from the nose. Her abdomen was also swollen,” the girl’s grandmother added.

She died while undergoing treatment.

The family has called out for authorities to intervene speedily in the matter noting that they can barely afford the Sh15,000 that the hospital is asking for to conduct the autopsy.

Laikipia County Commissioner, Mr Kyatha however assured that the investigation would be conducted speedily and they would intervene to ensure the autopsy is done soon.

“This is a very disturbing and unfortunate case and we will ensure that we give it the highest level of attention to ensure the postmortem is conducted and those involved arrested,” said the county commissioner.

He said that the teacher has since gone into hiding but is being pursued.