A Nairobi parent has accused a bus driver of a private primary school in Muthiga of slapping her Grade 4 child on the face and knocking out his tooth.
The incident occurred on Thursday at Westgate Shield School along Waiyaki Way. Officers from Kinoo police station, where the matter was reported, have taken up the matter as a criminal offence and arrested the driver.
A medical report seen by the Star says the child lost a canine to assault by a known assailant from school.
“Tooth removed under local anaesthesia and discharged on antibiotics,” the medical report reads. It also refers the child for further assistance.
On Thursday, school director Peter Gathii admitted the child was slapped but disputed whether he lost the tooth in the process. Gathii said he is launching an independent investigation on the matter.
“Let the parent carry on with the legal action that they have begun, I am also talking to a lawyer and a medical expert as I conduct my independent investigation,” he told the Star.
The child's mother says her son had blood on her mouth and lip when he arrived home. On enquiry, the child said they were playing in class in the evening when the driver walked in and slapped them.
“I asked him what had happened and he answered that the driver had pinched and slapped him,” she said.
The parent took the child to the Kinoo police station and was booked at 6pm on Thursday under OB number 11/07/01/2021.
The police medical report signed by the Kinoo police station boss says the child “alleges to have been assaulted by a person known to him.” It, however, records no presence of bloodstains and tears on the child's body or clothes.
In his version of the events, the school proprietor says that “the driver walked in on the learners misbehaving and disciplined them”.
The school director said that the said driver was his son, hence the reason he disciplined the boy.
Both parties agree that the discipline included a slap on the faces of the two children.
(edited by o. owino)
