• Lewis Muthama was to go swimming but he never turned up to come home.
• Hours later his body was lying in a corridor, covered with a leso. Police investigating.
Image: VERONICA KATUNGE
A grim New Year's Day.
A family in Makindu subcounty, Makueni county, is seeking justice for their 11-year-old boy who appears to have drowned in a hotel swimming pool on New Year's Day.
Mother Mary Ndunge said her son, Lewis Muthama, died due to negligence by the swimming pool attendant at Porini Porini Hotel Makindu Market centre.
The hotel had no official comment; the owner's phone was turned off.
His mother said that on January 1 at around 5pm, she took her three children to the hotel. Her firstborn, a pupil at Kiangini primary school, wanted to go swimming and asked her to pay sh300 so he could swim.
"He requested me to pay a swimming pool charges but I declined since the water was already dirty but he kept on insisting. I told him to look for swimming pool attendant to pay.
"He came with one of the attendants and I paid Sh300. Then he put a mark on his hand to show we have paid and took him to swim," Ndunge aaid.
"Lewis and the swimming pool attendant left us with his clothes. We thought he was safe and allowed him to go swim with the others before we went home. But he was neglected and died in the water," his mother said.
She said at around 6.30pm she sent one of his siblings to the swimming pool to tell their brother it was time to go home. He couldn't find him, so she sent her housemaid but she couldn't find him either.
"Since there were more than 200 children playing around the swimming pool, we assumed he was busy playing with them and decided to wait until late when all children were out of the pool.
"He didn't turn up," his mother said.
She said she went to hotel DJ and asked him to help find her son by making an announcement over the sound system. He did, but still Lewis was missing, so she decided to go check for him at home.
"I left the other kids with housemaid, picked a motorbike and rushed home to confirm if Lewis might have gone there alone but I didn't find him," she said.
"On my way back, I received a phone call and and was told to rush to the hotel. There I found my son lifeless, lying in a corridor and covered with a leso," she said.
She was shocked and screamed but finally called the police.
Efforts to reach the hotel's owner have been fruitless because his phone was off.
Speaking to the Star, Makueni county police commander Joseph ole Napeiyan said the incident is under investigation but as of now it's being treated purely as a drowning with no one to blame.
"As you are aware, no person should be in the swimming pool waters past 6pm and since the death was reported at around 8.30 at Porini hotel, we don't know whether the boy sneaked to the swimming pool without notice of the parents or what really happened," Napeiyan said.
He said so far police have recorded statements from the family and the management of Porini Hotel but they are yet to link someone with the case.
"It's the role of the all hotel's management to make sure there should be a pool attendant to rescue anyone as well as prevent anyone from accessing it [after hours] but you know it was late. We can’t tell how the boy left the parents and management to go and swim unnoticed," he added.
However he said when the police are through with investigations they will take the case to court for a judgment.
"The final report will establish any form of negligence on both sides, the parents and the hotel management," the commander added.
(Edited by V. Graham)