Mr. Jackson Mobisa Marucha was sentenced to three years in prison with an alternative fine of Ksh. 300,000|Photo courtesy, Citizen Digital|
Jackson Mobisa Marucha, Riang’ombe SDA Primary School teacher was on Wednesday 20th, 2024 sentenced to three years in jail by a court in Nyamira County.
The court in its ruling served Mr. Jackson an alternative verdict of Ksh. 300,000 fine after the teacher was found guilty of assaulting a grade four pupil. Mr. Osongo was convicted for assaulting the boy by canning him 107 times.
The March 2023 incident, which drew national outrage, highlighted concerns about child protection and corporal punishment in Kenyan schools.
The assault occurred after the nine-year-old boy reported that his school uniform had been stolen from a clothesline. Marucha, reportedly furious, inflicted severe injuries on the pupil, leaving a chunk of flesh missing from his buttocks.
The corporal punishment left the boy unable to sit and was admitted at Nyamira County Referral Hospital for medication.
Attempts to uncover the incident by confining the boy in a dormitory and denying him medical care were uncovered when classmates informed the boy’s uncle, who had been barred by school authorities from seeing him.
Before his arrest two months after the incident, Marucha went into hiding but was arrested after public outrage erupted, fueled by calls for justice on social media.
Marucha’s case was upgraded to attempted murder charge by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions prior to the court’s ruling.
