Pool Attendant Detained For A Week After Child Drowns At Visa Oshwal Primary

A court Friday detained a swimming pool attendant for seven days pending investigations into a case of negligence of official duty.

This follows a drowning incident at the Visa Oshwal primary school in Parklands area, Nairobi on Tuesday, February 20 where a boy aged 11 died.

His body was found in the pool the following day.

The family said the Grade Two pupil went missing on Tuesday afternoon and the father only knew about it around 4 pm when he went to pick him up from school.

Senior Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo Friday directed Geoffrey Juma Opala to be detained at Parklands police station.

Opala opposed in vain the DCI request to detain him for seven days pending investigations as he is the sole provider.

He asked the court to release him on cash bail.

However, the prosecution asked the court to grant them seven days alleging that he was a flight risk

The court heard that the suspect’s life might be in danger if released.

“Parents of the deceased together with other parents and the community at large are still grieving the lost soul,” the court was informed.

Opala is alleged to have neglected his official duty as a swimming pool attendant at Visa Oshwal primary school where a body of a grade two pupil aged 11 years was found dead in a swimming pool.

The offence was committed on February 20, where Opala was captured on CCTV footage on duty when the deceased walked towards the swimming pool and later the body was discovered after drowning.

He was subsequently arrested on February 22.

Claire Wafula DCI Parklands police station told the court that the suspect failed to tell the school management and parents that he had seen the deceased walk past him toward the swimming pool

The court was told that Opala denied seeing the deceased after being pressed by the deceased’s family, and later alleged to have found the body of the deceased after searching the swimming pool and recovered the body in the absence of the relatives and school staff

Wafula said the DCI is yet to determine whether the drowning was caused by somebody or accidentally.

The matter will be mentioned on March 1, for further directions.