Teacher charged with manslaughter after punching pupil in head
A school teacher based in Nairobi was charged with manslaughter contrary to section 202 as read with section 205 of the Penal Code after a pupil he punched on the head in class died in hospital.
At the Makadara Law Courts, Lawrence Muthini Kasivi was charged with unlawfully causing the death of Emmanuel Muiruri in Dandora, Kamukunji Sub County in Nairobi, on May 17.
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The suspect is a teacher at Wangu Primary school where the deceased was his pupil.
The deceased pupil had on May 16 mistakenly gone home with a classmate’s school bag because their schoolbags looked alike and returned it the next day after discovering it was not his.
However, Mr Kasivi, who is his class teacher punched him on the head in punishment before he fell down unconscious.
The minor’s parents were informed by Mr Kasivi’s workmate that their child was very sick and that they were needed in the school where they found their son unconscious and took him to a nearby dispensary in the company of teachers and the deceased’s classmates.
The medics at the dispensary referred them to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital (MLKH) in Embakasi where they took him still unconscious, and he was treated and discharged two days later with referrals to the Kenyatta National Hospital and the Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital.
However, the parents of the deceased have been taking him to hospitals for treatment without any improvement, and his health kept deteriorating.
He later developed complications while at home, and they rushed him to MLKH where he succumbed on July 3.
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Although the matter had been reported to police on May 20, the minor had not recorded a statement with investigators but he had informed his parents and doctors that he was injured by Mr Kasivi, who was his class teacher, for going home with another child’s school bag.
Postmortem examination established that Muriuki’s death was a remote traumatic brain injury and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions recommended that Mr Kasivi be charged with manslaughter after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) concluded investigations.
The suspect denied the charges before Chief magistrate Francis Kyambia. He was released on a bond of Sh100, 000 with an alternative cash bail of a similar amount.
The case will be mentioned on September 28 before trial begins on January 15 next year.
A teacher at the school and three pupils who are the deceased’s classmates and witnessed the assault recorded statements with the DCI and are listed as witnesses in the case against Mr Kasivi.
A pathologist who conducted the postmortem and several health workers who attended to Muiruri at the Dandora Dispensary and MLKH are also listed as witnesses in the case.
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