Ex-Loreto pupil sues for Sh28 million, years after school bus accident

photo:courtesy

A pupil who was injured in an accident involving a school bus that killed her three colleagues in 2011 has sued for Sh28 million compensation.

Madikizela Otieno, who is now 19, told the court that Loreto Convent Msongari Girls Primary School should be compelled to pay the amount as compensation for the pain she underwent, her injuries and for offsetting future medical expenses.

Ms Otieno, currently a law student at Nottingham University in United Kingdom, sustained serious head, face and right shoulder injuries from the accident.

She told the Court the accident cost her parents Sh14 million in local hospitals, Sh2.1 million in a UK hospital, and that she was yet to recover fully.

Three pupils were killed in the accident along the Meru-Nanyuki Highway on July 27, 2011.

Ms Otieno testified that on the fateful day, Standard Seven and Eight pupils were on a trip to a coffee factory.

The judge was told that pupils in the two classes would not fit in one bus.

Ms Otieno told High Court judge Richard Mwongo that class eight pupils requested for a separate but the school’s head teacher, Margret Sewe refused.

Otieno said the buss was so overloaded that pupils were ordered to seat on each other’s laps. She said it had faulty brakes and that the driver was reckless.

The case will proceed on October 30.