Midlands Reporter A GWERU school has admitted negligence after an eight-year-old pupil drowned in the swimming pool. Idah Nyabeze, the headm...
Midlands Reporter
A GWERU school has admitted negligence after an eight-year-old pupil drowned in the swimming pool.
Idah Nyabeze, the headmistress of Cecil John Rhodes Primary School, told an inquest at the Gweru Magistrates’ Court yesterday that “no-one counted the children to ensure that everyone was out of the pool”.
The admission leaves the school at risk of a huge lawsuit from the parents of Samantha Phiri, a Grade 3 pupil who was forgotten in the swimming pool for over an hour on February 27 last year.
Nyabeze told the coroner, Gweru magistrate Sithembiso Ncube, that laid down health and safety procedures were not followed.
“The normal procedure is that children are counted before they enter the pool and after they finish swimming, they’re again counted. A register is called and then the children are lined up before being led back to class,” she said.
“On the particular day in question, however, the procedure was not followed. No-one counted the children to ensure that everyone was out of the pool.”
Samantha, the inquest heard, went for swimming lessons along with 34 classmates in a session that was supposed to end at 1PM.
After the session, pupils left the pool and went for lunch before resuming classes at 2PM.
It was well after 2PM that the swimming coach, Albert Peter Stoddard, 46, reported finding Samantha’s backpack near the pool area.
Her body was found in the deep end of the pool shortly afterwards.
She was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Other witnesses who testified included a classmate of Samantha’s who confirmed seeing Samantha get into the pool, but never saw her leave the water.
Samantha’s father, Mark Phiri, told the inquest he arrived at the school to collect her but was advised to return at 4PM because she would be late due to the lunchtime swimming lessons.
When he arrived at the school at 4PM, he said, he was finally told the truth: her daughter’s lifeless body had been pulled from the 3,05m-deep swimming pool and sent to hospital.
The inquest has also heard from Samantha’s class teacher and several members of staff.
Ncube postponed the inquest to next week Wednesday when the doctor who performed the post mortem is expected to give his evidence.
A GWERU school has admitted negligence after an eight-year-old pupil drowned in the swimming pool.
Idah Nyabeze, the headmistress of Cecil John Rhodes Primary School, told an inquest at the Gweru Magistrates’ Court yesterday that “no-one counted the children to ensure that everyone was out of the pool”.
The admission leaves the school at risk of a huge lawsuit from the parents of Samantha Phiri, a Grade 3 pupil who was forgotten in the swimming pool for over an hour on February 27 last year.
Nyabeze told the coroner, Gweru magistrate Sithembiso Ncube, that laid down health and safety procedures were not followed.
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| Tragic girl ‘forgotten’ in school pool |
“On the particular day in question, however, the procedure was not followed. No-one counted the children to ensure that everyone was out of the pool.”
Samantha, the inquest heard, went for swimming lessons along with 34 classmates in a session that was supposed to end at 1PM.
After the session, pupils left the pool and went for lunch before resuming classes at 2PM.
It was well after 2PM that the swimming coach, Albert Peter Stoddard, 46, reported finding Samantha’s backpack near the pool area.
Her body was found in the deep end of the pool shortly afterwards.
She was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Other witnesses who testified included a classmate of Samantha’s who confirmed seeing Samantha get into the pool, but never saw her leave the water.
Samantha’s father, Mark Phiri, told the inquest he arrived at the school to collect her but was advised to return at 4PM because she would be late due to the lunchtime swimming lessons.
When he arrived at the school at 4PM, he said, he was finally told the truth: her daughter’s lifeless body had been pulled from the 3,05m-deep swimming pool and sent to hospital.
The inquest has also heard from Samantha’s class teacher and several members of staff.
Ncube postponed the inquest to next week Wednesday when the doctor who performed the post mortem is expected to give his evidence.
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