A form three student in a Meru school has been left without an eye after an encounter with fellow schoolmates who were playing a 'game of belts'.
17-year-old Mark Munene, a student at Igembe Boys Secondary School says that the incident happened on Saturday night and is admitted at the Meru Level Four Hospital.
He says that he met the boys who were engaging in a game where they were beating each other with belts and was hit, sending him to the ground and bleeding on his right eye.
“After having supper at about 7pm, I met some boys who were engaging in a funny game they were playing using belts. I was caught unawares. They hit me hard and I became unconscious,” he told the Standard.
He recalled being rushed to the nearby Kimongoro Health Center and later taken to the hospital where the eye was removed on Sunday on grounds that the lens had been destroyed.
He revealed that after examinations, the doctors noted that he had suffered a blunt object hit to the eye, and would have caused him more problems had it not been removed.
“I was attended to and a brain scan was taken, but I’m yet to get the results, a surgery was conducted and my eye was removed. The doctor told me the lens was badly damaged and the whole eye needed to be removed for me to survive. I had no other option,” added the boy from his hospital bed.
The incident was confirmed by Igembe South Police Commander Henry Akon'go who said that a probe had been launched.
The school head Ephantus Muriithi said that the incident had traumatized the school management, terming it an 'unfortunate accident'.
The boy's mother Purity Karimi, however, accused the school of giving misleading information, claiming that theadministration's details indicate that he was hit by a window.
“I was shocked when I was told that the eye had to be removed. Some reports from the school administration are misleading. There are those saying he was hit by a window, but my son says he was hit by his fellow students. We hope the truth will come out," she is quoted.
Officer Akong'o said that the boys linked to the incident have already recorded statements at the Maua Police Station as part of the ongoing investigations.