•His dismissal started as a complaint against a teacher accused of having an illicit relationship with his pupil and snowballed into suspected murder of the pupil.
Image: FAITH NYASUGUTA
The Teachers Service Commission will pay Sh293,202 to a teacher it sacked in 2010 after wrongly accusing him of having a relationship with a pupil and later murdering her.
The teacher was tried in court and cleared of both charges.
Sitting in Mombasa on July 27, employment court Judge Linnet Ndolo said this was compensation for the teacher, Justine Kitonyo.
Kitonyo was employed in 2007, interdicted in 2010, and later dismissed from employment.
“I award the claimant 12 months’ salary in compensation, taking into account his length of service with the respondent plus the respondent’s violation of the law in handling the case. The claimant is also entitled to a certificate of service,” Ndolo said.
His dismissal started as a complaint against a teacher accused of having an illicit relationship with his pupil and snowballed into the suspected murder of the class seven pupil in Kilifi.
“Following allegations of defilement of a pupil, who was later found dead, the claimant was arrested and arraigned in court on a charge of murder,” court documents read.
A trial and conviction by the high court followed but on moving to the Malindi court of appeal, the teacher was acquitted on November 11, 2016.
Following this, Kitonyo, moved to the employment court seeking the declaration of his termination as illegal and seeking reinstatement to his original job.
He stated that on April 19, 2010, he and his cousin attended a traditional function at Balaga village at the coast.
Upon his return the following day, the teacher heard rumors that he had been found with a schoolgirl. He chose to ignore the rumors but was arrested.
A doctor testified that the deceased pupil had not been defiled, prompting the teacher's release from police custody.
However, despite the Gender and Children Department writing to the district Education officer on the findings on the alleged defilement, he was interdicted in May 2010.
In September 2010, Kitonyo was arraigned before the High Court at Malindi and charged with the murder of the pupil, whose body was found in a bush in Matsangoni area.
He pleaded not guilty and was remanded until April, 2013, when he was convicted and sentenced to death.
On appeal in Malindi, his conviction was quashed in November 2016, and the death sentence set aside. He started following up on his employment as he wished to resume duty.
Kitonyo claimed he only came to know of his dismissal in February 2017, at the TSC office.
In mitigation, TSC claimed the interdiction arose from the recommendation by the school management committee for the breach of the code of regulations for teachers.
“By the time I heard the claimant, he had been out of the respondent’s employment for close to ten years. He had moved on and had secured alternative employment. I, therefore, find that this is an inappropriate case for the remedy of reinstatement,” Ndolo said.