DUBAI // A British sports coach, his two assistants and two school officials were found guilty of causing the death of a five-year-old boy who drowned during a summer camp.
The defendants were fined Dh30,000 each and ordered to pay blood money to the family of the child, who was from Belgium.
Before Dubai Misdemeanours Court, they all denied being responsible for the death of the boy, who drowned while swimming in a pool.
Prosecutors said he “remained unnoticed” in the pool for five minutes and that the 31-year-old coach and his assistants did not have professional work permits.
The boy drowned on July 21 at the school’s premises in a gated community in Dubai.
The coach and his assistants – aged 23 and 22 and from Britain and Ireland – allowed the boy to swim in the adult pool but did not supervise him well enough.
Prosecutors said that the three were not familiar with training and safety precautions related to group swimming.
Dubai Police were called and the boy was taken to a private hospital in Al Barsha where attempts to resuscitate him failed.
The school’s 51-year-old Australian principal and the school’s Indian partner, 50, were also charged with accidentally causing the death.
A Dubai Municipality report said that the coach and the assistants did not have Dubai lifeguard certificates. The school’s administration was blamed in the report for hiring them without ensuring they were fully trained in pool safety and training methods.
A Sudanese safety inspector with the municipality prepared the report after visiting the private international school.
“Forty students under the age of 10 were allowed into the adult swimming pool at the same time,” he said.
If the coach had been qualified, he said, the three would have divided the students into small groups that each got a turn in the pool.
The Indian partner said the school signed an agreement with a private sports services company in 2010 to handle summer activities and the school’s only role was to rent its premises to the company.
“When the incident happened, it was the company handling the summer camp.
“When I received a call about the incident and later that the boy had died, we cancelled the contract with this company,” the partner said.
“Dubai Municipality already fined us Dh20,000 following this accident.”
salamir@thenational.ae
