Shocker: 8-yr-old student killed by school lawn roller
21 January 2014 05:29 am
An eight-year-old student of Ananda College, Colombo was fatally injured after being pinned against a wall by a lawn roller in the school premises.
Police revealed student Sinith Wijesinha from Kaduwela was killed in the accident .
Hospital sources said the student was pronounced dead upon admission to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital.
The Director of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital Dr. Rathnasiri Hewage said that no obvious external injuries were visible on the deceased student.
“He was brought in at 7.50 a.m. and was dead at the time he was brought to the hospital. Every effort was made to resuscitate him but to no avail. There were no external injuries visible, so we ordered an inquest. The coroner would ask for a judicial post mortem from the Judicial Medical Officer and only then can the internal damage and exact cause of death be determined,” Hewage said.
Because the cause of death was unclear and on a request by Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena who visited the hospital, Dr. Hewage said an inquest had been arranged and the body was transferred to the Police mortuary for the post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile, some of the Ananda College primary school teachers expressed their displeasure at the manner in which the school activities were conducted following the accident.
“A school event held to mark the admission of high scorers of the scholarship examination was held as planned and the school administration behaved as if the tragedy never took place. It is quite distressing,” the teachers told Daily Mirror.
However, Ananda College Principal, Kithsiri Liyanagamage said, “It is true the events scheduled for today was carried out as planned but we took measures to exclude the entertainment in the itinerary. I believe it was the right course of action because no good would have come out of distressing all the students in the school,” he said.
Mr. Liyanagamage said the hand roller was not placed in a way that would pose a risk to students who were playing in the grounds. “What happened to Seneth was unfortunate but I don’t believe the school should be held responsible or be blamed for negligence,” he said.
Seneth is the only son in a family of three children and had been residing at Pothuwarawa in Malabe. His father is an old boy of Ananda College - class of ’93.
Student’s death due to nasty bang of blunt object: JMO
The post-mortem conducted by the Colombo JMO Rahul Haque into the death of the student who was killed after being squeezed between the handle of a hand-roller and a wall, pronounced, the cause of death was the severe injuries sustained to his chest and stomach.
After the Maligakanda Acting Magistrate Lloyd Gray had recorded his observations at the site of the accident, the magisterial inquiry was conducted at the mortuary of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, and the body of the child was handed over to his father.
“Teachers of the school should have been watchful of children’s activities and if it had been so, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened,” dead child’s grandfather Jayantha Wijesinhe said.
Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana