Teacher Canes Pupil To Death

A Class Two pupil of an Accra school has died following the lashes she allegedly received at the hands of her teacher. Favour Ohene, an eight-year-old class two pupil, was allegedly caned to death by her teacher, Sheeba Manningson, who is now in the custody of the Kotobabi Police in Accra. The child, who was a pupil of Providence School Limited, Kotobabi, was reportedly caned mercilessly for performing poorly in class during a ‘mental and dictation’ assignment.Narrating the incidence to Daily Guide, mother of the deceased, Comfort Ohene, indicated that on Thursday June 18, 2009 when Favour returned from school, she realized the child was frail. “I asked what was wrong with her and her junior sister told me that Favour’s teacher whipped her for failing in a mental test.” Mrs. Ohene continued that the child apparently complained of headaches and bodily pains, adding that her temperature kept rising even after taking some paracetamol tablets. She narrated further that “on the dawn of the next day, at about 2:00am, her father woke up to find her shivering and alerted me. “I then quickly gave her a cold bath in a bid to calm her temperature so that we could wait until daybreak to take her to the hospital for treatment. However, Favour continually cried amidst complaints of headaches and neck pains”. Favour’s mother disclosed that they had to rush her to the Children’s Hospital at Korle-Bu, where she was pronounced dead at about 2:45am, a few minutes after arrival. The suspect was arrested after a complaint was lodged with the Kotobabi Police.The remains of the child were sent to the Police Hospital for autopsy, the result of which indicated that the child died of cerebral contusion. When contacted, Headmaster of the school, Joe Manningson, who is also a brother of the suspect, said he was absent on that fateful day and could therefore neither confirm the act nor say otherwise. The Headmaster intimated that the suspect had been teaching in the school for the past 6 years and no one had ever complained of such severe beatings to him. “My brother is a calm person, so I do not believe the child died as a result of the canes, but we leave everything in the hands of the authorities to investigate,” he added. The Kotobabi Police confirmed the story and indicated that the case was under investigation.