A court in Nairobi on Friday, February 23 ordered a seven-day detention of Geoffrey Juma Opala, a swimming pool attendant at Visa Oshwal Primary school, pending investigations into negligence of official duty.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo directed him the be detained at Parklands Police Station.
Opala is accused of neglecting duty at the institution where an 11-year-old grade 2 pupil drowned on February 20.
”The respondent is believed to have neglected his official duty as a swimming pool attendant at Visa Oshwal Primary School where a body of a Grade 2 pupil namely Abdikarim Ali aged 11 years was found dead in swimming pool,” read the application by the prosecution.
The court heard that Opala — who was arrested on Thursday, February 22 — was captured on CCTV footage on duty when the deceased walked towards the swimming pool.
“That the respondent after being pressed by the members of the family to state where the deceased was, he denied having seeing him and later he alleged to have searched the swimming pool and recovered the body in the absence of the relatives and the school staff,” the application continues.
Investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances under which the pupil drowned.
The case will be mentioned on March 1 2024 for further directions.
