Monday, May 11, 2015
Abu Dhabi: The order of closure of Al Worood Academy Private School has been revoked and its bus driver and attendant are being asked to serve six months and one year in jail respectively, the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals ruled on Monday.
The school has been asked to pay Dh100,000 in blood money and a Dh50,000 fine following the death of an Al Worood Academy Private School pupil on board an Al Worood school bus last year.
The kindergarten student suffered from heat exhaustion and was found to have multiple bruises on her skull after she was left in her school bus for around two hours before the bus driver found her.
Following the incident, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced that the school will close and Al Worood Academy Private School pupils were assigned other schools to attend before the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Additionally, five people were arrested, including the Filipina bus attendant, the Indian bus driver, a Lebanese employee at the school, the Al Worood South African principal and the Pakistani owner of the transport company, which provided the school with the bus in question.
The Civil Court of First Instance had initially given the defendants sentences that varied between six months and three years and had asked all but the transport company owner, the fifth suspect, to pay the victim’s blood money.
Additionally, the attendant, driver and school employee were asked to pay Dh20,000 with suspension while the school was required to pay Dh50,000 for causing Nizaha Ala’a’s death and another Dh100,000 for endangering the lives of others by transporting students in unlicensed school buses.
The fifth defendant and owner of the transport company was also ordered to pay Dh500,000 for hiring employees that are not on his sponsorship; a charge of which he was acquitted at the Appeals Court.
By Nada Al Taher Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
