School guards beat student into coma

An 18-year-old former student of Jinja Senior Secondary School is fighting for his life at Mulago hospital after four school guards allegedly beat him into coma when they found him talking to a girl at the school premises.

Mr Juma Nzora, who is in his Senior Six vacation, had asked the school management to be allowed to stay at the school to participate in the forthcoming inter-school football competitions when the incident happened.

According to his father, Pastor Anthony Success Wejuli, the head of the Kampala Christian Family Church, Mr Nzora on February 19 was having a chat with one of the students when he was attacked by one of the askaris, who beat him up using a big stick.

Mr Wejuli said his son became unconscious but the askari did not give up. He was later joined by three of his colleagues who allegedly beat him into coma.
Mr Nzora then started foaming at the mouth before he was taken to Jinja Main hospital where his family was notified of the incident.

Ms Fausi Nagadya, the elder sister of Mr Nzora, said she was contacted by the school management to find his brother at the Jinja Referral hospital.

“I received a call from the school last Tuesday that my brother was unwell. I rushed there and found him in the emergency room. A team of medical doctors was working tirelessly to resuscitate him,” she said.
At Jinja hospital, Nzora was asked to do an MRI scan from Mulago hospital.

When Daily Monitor visited Nzora at the weekend, he was out of danger but was complaining of severe back pain and groin and is currently passing urine through a catheter.

Speaking with difficulty from his hospital bed, Mr Nzora wondered why the school askaris beat him up.
“When we inquired what had happened, the school headmistress, Ms Diana Nyago, asked us to go and arrest the school askaris. How can we arrest people under her supervision?” he asked.

Ms Nyago, however, feigned ignorance of the incident when contacted.
“I do not know what happened to him, go and ask him,” Ms Nyago said in a telephone interview on Saturday.

The arrest
Parents have since arrested the askaris on February, who were detained at Jinja Central Police Station before they were released the same day. “We do not know what to do in the circumstance but we appeal to people in positions of higher authority to help us,” Pastor Wejuli said.

By last Friday the doctors had recommended that Mr Nzora undergoes specialised treatment.
Jinja District Police Commander Ahmed Hasumira when asked why the askaris were released, asked “don’t suspects have a right?”

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