Detectives hold Visa Oshwal swimming coach in probe over pupil's drowning

Detectives are holding the swimming coach of Visa Oshwal Primary School following the mysterious drowning of Ilyaas Abdikarim Ali Mohamud, a Grade two pupil at the school.

He is expected in court on Friday morning where detectives will be seeking more time to hold him as the probe into the boy's death intensifies.

"He is not yet a suspect, but a person of interest. Once we have established everything, we shall be able to tell what exactly transpired," Gigiri Sub County Criminal Investigations Officer Robinson Cherenje confirmed to The Eastleigh Voice on Thursday.

The 11-year-old boy went "missing" on Tuesday. And on Wednesday afternoon, the school informed the family that his body had been found at the school's swimming pool, where he had allegedly drowned under unclear circumstances.

According to his family, his uncle had dropped him at the school on Tuesday at 7 am hoping to interact with him again after picking him up in the evening.

However, upon arriving at the school at around 4 pm, the Grade two pupil was missing and could not be traced.

Efforts to trace the boy commenced immediately and went on till Wednesday when his body was found.

The school told the family that he drowned in the school's pool in unclear circumstances.

The family has accused the school of negligence in the handling of the case, claiming the boy could have been found had the school been seriously involved in his search after they discovered he was missing.

"This is a case of high levels of negligence, if the child left class and failed to return for over one hour, the teacher did not get suspicious that something bad might have happened to him?" Mohamed Adan, a friend of the family wondered.

DCI detectives have taken over the case and are investigating the circumstances in which the boy drowned without anyone noticing and raising an alarm.

Neither the school nor the Ministry of Education have issued a statement in regards to what could have transpired.

A post-mortem exercise conducted at Chiromo Mortuary on Wednesday confirmed that the boy succumbed to drowning.

The deceased was buried at the Lang'ata cemetery as the family vowed to sue the school.