Parents of a Form Two student at a school in Makueni are crying foul after their son allegedly died under unclear circumstances last Saturday. However, it took the school nearly three days to inform the parents that their son had died.
The family claims that they only came to know of their son’s death on Monday, February 10, at 5pm, nearly three days after his body was discovered floating in the school’s pool.
“We were told our child passed on Saturday (February 8). They failed to disclose knowledge of our son’s death from Saturday, Sunday, and Monday,” claimed the child’s father.
It was only on Monday (February 10) at 5:00pm that we received a phone call telling us to rush to the school after our son was picked up by the police in a bad state and that he has seemingly died,” he added.
A swimming pool under a cool breeze, January 24, 2025.
Photo
Canva
The family further alleged a plot by the school’s management to compromise the investigations after the child’s demise, claiming they orchestrated a last-minute change of the pathologist conducting the post-mortem.
While holding demonstrations at the Makindu Sub-County Hospital mortuary, the family of the deceased accused the school’s owner and detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of colluding together after the postponement of their son’s post-mortem.
The family claimed that this came after they had already availed their pathologist to conduct the post-mortem only for the school to change goalposts.
“We had come with the pathologist as everything was ready and had been well prepared, even by the DCI. It was only after we had arrived that we were informed of the new development. The DCI stated that they were waiting for a pathologist from Nairobi,” the child’s father stated.
For his part, the school’s owner claimed that he did not trust the pathologist appointed by the bereaved family, thus informing the decision to postpone the post-mortem. However, the family disputed this.
“If the school wanted to know the cause of death of the child, it would have worked hand in hand with the DCI and hospital. The hospital should have been ready on the day the child passed so that they could tell us what transpired. Why were they hiding information and taking us around in circles?” a bereaved family member lamented.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, however, explained that DCI officials had requested a government pathologist and that a new date for the post-mortem had already been set.
Even so, the family of the deceased has dismissed the new development, calling for a quick end to the saga. The post-mortem is now set to be conducted on Tuesday, February 18.
The family of a Form Two student who died after allegedly drowning in a school in Makueni demonstrate at Makindu Sub-County Hospital over the delayed post-mortem of their kin.
Photo
TV47