The Examiner has more opinions than it has staff. We maintain unanimity in our facts, not the inferences we draw from them. This examination is no exception.
Four-year-old Leila (not her real name) joined Colombo South International College’s pre-school in Dehiwala last month. She spent her first day at the welcome ceremony, and enjoyed her second day so much that she didn’t want to return home at all. But on the third day, September 16th, a distraught Leila clung to her class teacher as she waited for her mother to pick her up.
At home that afternoon when her mother tried to change her clothes, Leila got scared. After a nap, Leila told her mother what had happened.
“She climbed on our coffee table and showed me how tall the man was,” her mother told The Examiner, referring to the school’s caretaker who she says sexually abused her daughter on her third day of school. He tickled her in the school’s play area while the other children were in dancing class just a few metres away, Leila told her mother, before he took her to a “dark room”.
“She told me he removed her t-shirt, and did “bad touch”,” said her mother, adding that she had taught Leila about “good touch, bad touch” from the age of two.
According to her mother and a statement Leila gave to the National Child Protection Authority, the NCPA, the caretaker had put his hand inside her diaper and kissed her cheeks, forehead, and lips. He forced her to touch his penis and, after removing her shorts and diaper, put his penis on her. When she cried, he hit her legs and pinched her. Leila’s mother said she saw cracks on her lip and her right knee was bruised.
The case is now before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court. Leila’s mother wants the man to go to jail. But she also points her finger at another — the school. “The school neglected her,” says the mother.
Duty of care
Leila’s class teacher didn’t notice that she was missing from dance class, she alleges. When the teacher finally found the child, Leila told her that a man had done “bad touch” on her. The teacher then merely hugged her and told her not to go outside, her mother alleged. When she went to pick Leila up, the teacher didn’t say anything.
The Penal Code, at Section 286C, requires that any person in care of a premises and who knows that the premises are used to abuse a child must inform the police.
Zafir Deen, Colombo South International’s head of operations, maintains that Leila never complained to the teacher. He said they’re cooperating with the authorities but have “doubts” about the allegations.
Colombo South International’s own lawyers are representing the accused caretaker, says Deen, adding that the caretaker had worked at the school for at least 20 years. “There’s a problem for the school as our name is involved,” he said.
An NCPA official, who wished to remain anonymous because they don’t generally comment on individual cases, said their officers’ learnt through the teacher’s statement that she hadn’t been paying attention when Leila went missing. Leila had left the other children and gone to play.
“The school must conduct an inquiry because there has been a failure in her duty of care,” said the NCPA official.
But Deen claims the teacher had “mistakenly” informed the NCPA that Leila had gone missing outside the classroom on the Wednesday of the alleged incident. According to him, her record book shows that outside time only happened the next day, on Thursday.
“She was called suddenly to speak to the NCPA, and officers started questioning her. At that time, the mistake happened from her side,” said Deen about the teacher who had been working at the school for over a decade. The teacher had wished to change her statement later, but the NCPA refused.
The school is registered as a company and has been operating for 37 years. Nothing like this has ever happened before, says Deen. Officially, if the school’s director gets a complaint their policy is to inform the police.
But Deen told The Examiner he wishes Leila’s parents had come to him first, rather than going to the NCPA.
