High school principal sent home over student rape
Highridge Secondary School teacher Hillary Okeyo in a Nairobi court on November 3, 2015. Mr Okeyo will remain in custody until a case in which he is charged with defiling a Form One student at the school is heard and determined. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Ms Muraku is accused of failing to take action against a male teacher who allegedly raped a Form One student in the school.
The law prohibits unregistered teachers from teaching. Mr Okeyo is currently in custody as the trial proceeds.
Highridge Secondary School principal Mary Muraku has been interdicted over alleged negligence.
Ms Muraku is accused of failing to take action against a male teacher who allegedly raped a Form One student in the school.
If found guilty, the principal faces dismissal. Her name will also be struck off the teachers register.
Teachers Service Commission rules state that a deregistered teacher cannot teach anywhere in or outside Kenya.
'IMMORAL BEHAVIOUR'
Correspondence seen by the Nation shows that Ms Muraku failed to report to the authorities the “immoral behaviour of Hillary Okeyo Moses and the student during prep time”.
“You also failed to take her to hospital in good time for medication,” it reads.
Mr Okeyo is alleged to have grabbed the girl, dragged her into a toilet, gagged and defiled her.
It is not clear why school officials took three days to take her to hospital even after learning about it.
Mr Okeyo has denied a charge of defilement and committing an indecent act with a minor.
He also denied touching the child’s breasts and buttocks.
School managers are also accused of waiting for close to a week before reporting the alleged crime and further stopping the victim from calling her parents.
The parents learnt of the alleged attack from police.
UNREGISTERED TEACHER
Ms Muraku is said to have hired Mr Okeyo even though he was not a registered teacher.
“You also engaged Hillary Okeyo as a board of management teacher to teach biology and agriculture at Highridge Secondary School while he was not a registered teacher,” reads the letter.
The law prohibits unregistered teachers from teaching. Mr Okeyo is currently in custody as the trial proceeds.
The High Court on Monday reversed an order by a magistrate granting Mr Okeyo a Sh500,000 cash bail pending the hearing of the case.
Justice Ngenya Macharia upheld submissions by prosecutor Duncan Ondimu, who argued that the suspect was likely to interfere with potential witnesses, most of whom are students.
