By Lorna Abuga.
A high school teacher facing charges of defiling his student and sexually assaulting five others has been denied bail by a Nakuru court.
Paul Gicheru who teaches Kiswahili at Njoro Girls High School will remain in custody until his lawyer proves that he will not interfere with the witnesses once bailed out.
This directive follows another one that had been given on Monday by Chief Magistrate Doreen Mulekyo that the prosecutor updates the court on the whereabouts of the schoolgirls he is said to have molested, as well as their safety before he is considered for bail.
“We do not want to endanger the lives of the minors and thereby there is need for the prosecutor to gather enough information about the status and whereabouts of the minors”, said Mulekyo.
The prosecutor told the court that releasing the accused on bond or cash bail may interfere with his witness, a plea which was opposed by the defendants lawyer Karanja Mbugua who said that his client was innocent and that students had rioted upon learning of his arrest over the alleged charges.
Gicheru’s lawyer Karanja Mbugua had applied for bail terms for his client who has been charged with committing the beastly acts to the six girls for the last one year. The accused who shook his head while staring at the floor denied the charges saying they were a plot to tarnish his good bright teaching career of “25 years”.
The school has since been closed after students held a demonstration in protest.
Lawyer Mbugua argued that, since the students went on strike over the weekend the learning activities at the school had been stopped thus the accused could not be of any harm to them as they were away.
Present during the court session was Nakuru County Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Director Agnetta Kitheka who told the court that her office had considered the gravity of the matter by taking the victims for counseling.
She said security measures were being put in place to ensure their safety. Also in the court were the parents of the affected students who were granted permission to go home with their children. Before being handed over to the parents the children were being handled by the children department in the county. The parents promised to be accompanying them to court whenever required to do so.
Magistrate Mulekyo passed a strong message to the TSC office that the case was a serious one and the court would not entertain drama of any nature that will interfere with the integrity of the case.
Also see ‘Teacher charged with sex attack on students‘.
