The controversial Assistant Chief of Amabuko Sub-Location in Kisii County, Simon Osano who is alleged to have beaten and shamed a school girl resulting to her death has denied the allegations and faulted his competitors for using the unfortunate incident to tarnish his name.
Osano while speaking with a local media seen by Education News denied the allegations made about him saying that at no point did he beat, strip, and shame her in front of her parents but only tried to take the girl back to school with the help of local elders.
“I am devastated by the reports that have been circulated out there. I did not do what the deceased’s family is accusing me of. Good thing is that I was with the Nyumba Kumi elders when we called the girl and tried to take her back to school, as we have done with other students who dropped out of school in this area.
“I am a state officer, and there is no way I could do something like that. The family of the girl is not happy that I have been fighting the illicit brew it’s selling to the locals. That girl was not going to school because her parents insisted that she helps them to prepare the brew, which the government is against,” Osano said.
The embattled assistant chief further said that on the material day, he called the girl to his office together with other students from the area and tried to take them back to school. He says he even negotiated with the school Principal to allow the students attend classes as their parents hustled for school fees.
“The good thing is the matter is now in the hands of the DCI and truly I believe justice will be served. The good thing is that there were people present who can corroborate my side of the story. At no point did I shame the girl, neither did I beat her father as he claims. I’m a church deacon, I can’t strip a lady, not even my wife, forcefully,” he said.
The late Joyce Bonareri Otuke was a Form One student at Nyarieko Secondary.
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According to the reports, before the girl took the poison, she left a note behind addressed to the area Assistant Chief Simon Osano telling him to take care of her child.
“Dear area chief Simon Osano, I have decided to follow Jesus. Kwa hayo yote uliyenitendea (for all you have done to me) take care of my child,” reads part of the letter.
The mother to the deceased, who was a teen mother, drank cattle spray and bid her goodbye as she ran to the river because of pains in the stomach caused by the poison she drank.
Some villagers told Education News Team that the Assistant Chief had sired the child with the minor and was beating and threatening her from revealing the secret to the parents and the public.
The body of the deceased was transferred to Ichuni Hospital morgue pending an autopsy. The family, amidst their profound grief, has appealed to authorities to thoroughly investigate the matter and ensure justice is served, attributing the tragic ordeal to their impoverished circumstances.
By Vostine Ratemo
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