Jackson Mobisa Marucha, the Nyamira County-based primary school teacher who reportedly caned a pupil 107 times on March 26, was on Wednesday arraigned at the Keroka Law Courts where he pleaded not guilty to causing grievous harm to the minor.
Four minors testified in the private court session whose next hearing has been moved to October 4, 2023.
Marucha, a teacher at Riang’ombe Primary School in Borabu, is said to have viciously descended on the 9-year-old Grade Four pupil after he reported that his school uniforms had been stolen from the clothesline.
Marucha reportedly attempted to conceal the heinous act by keeping the boy locked away in a dorm and denying him medical attention after realising how severe his injuries were.
So injured was the boy that a chunk of flesh was missing from his buttocks following the incident.
The distasteful corporal punishment incident only came to light after the boy’s classmates informed the minor’s uncle, who had gone to visit him in school, of his predicament.
The boy’s uncle was reportedly barred from seeing him by the school administration prior to the revelation by the minor’s classmates.
The boy, while recuperating at Nyamira Referral Hospital then, told medical attendants at the facility that Marucha mercilessly descended on him despite his pleas for mercy.
Kenyans on Twitter, led by former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, called for the immediate arrest of the teacher after the story went viral on social media.
Marucha was arrested on June 4, after being on the run for almost 2 months.
