ABU DHABI // Five people found guilty of causing the death of a three-year-old girl after she was mistakenly locked inside a school bus have begun their appeal against their convictions.
A bus driver and supervisor were sentenced to three years in jail last month for negligence that led to the death of Nizaha Aalaa. The owner of the transport company that leased the vehicle to the school and a school administrator were also found guilty of charges related to her death.
The school, Al Worood Academy, was ordered to close and fined Dh150,000 by the Abu Dhabi Court of Misdemeanours.
At the Appeals Court on Sunday, all five denied a link between their roles and responsibilities and Nizaha’s death from heat exhaustion on October 7.
The Lebanese administrator of Al Worood Academy said there were 1,075 absences from school on that day, so it would have been impossible to check all the pupils’ records in time to notice the girl was missing.
The administrator’s lawyer, Hassan Al Riyami, said under Abu Dhabi Education Council rules an absence check could be conducted at any time during the day from 9am.
“But there were many absences that day,” he said.
“The absence check takes two minutes,” said Chief Justice Dr Khairi Al Kabbash. “So we should thank Allah only one child died?
“The call was only conducted after the death, to inform the father.”
A bus supervisor, who was convicted of neglecting her duties by not checking the back rows of the bus seats, told the court she worked as a cleaner in the school.
She said the school was her sponsor.
The court asked her if she was assigned to work as a bus supervisor on the day of the incident.
“I need a Tagalog translator,” she replied.
The court adjourned her statements until a translator could be appointed.
The school principal, who was also convicted of negligence for hiring buses which were not to the required standard, and breaching immigration rules on the recruitment of employees, said neither he nor the school were responsible for the death.
He said that some employees have dual duties and worked as bus supervisors in the morning and cleaners for the rest of the day.
“She has two duties,” he said, referring to the Filipino. He said that she had also been trained for the job as supervisor.
The owner of the bus company said he had a contract with the school to provide buses, but was not connected to the accident.
Tarek Al Serkal, defending the bus company owner, told the court if he had any doubts about his client’s innocence he would not be defending him.
He referred to witnesses statements that said there was no list of standards for school buses for anyone to breach.
He said Adec had been notified by the school that they wanted to change their buses but were referred to the Department of Transport, and they were waiting for their report at the time of the incident.
“Why aren’t Adec and the department on trial here?” he asked the court.
Mr Al Serkal said convicting his client of endangering students’ lives contradicted prosecution evidence, as the bus company was only a supplier and not directly responsible for what happened.
“As far as I know some are recruited by the school, and some by the bus company,” said the school administrator, when asked who hired the bus supervisors.
Fayza Moussa, defending the bus driver, said her client was not allowed to speak to the children on the bus.
“He works for the bus company … his role is like a robot to drive the students to and from the school,” she said.
“Our children have been going to Abu Dhabi schools for 20 years and we see this every day, it is the supervisor who puts the children on the bus and off. Then whatever happens inside the school is the school’s responsibility.”
The case was adjourned to allow the remaining lawyers to prepare their defence and for a Tagalog translator to be present.
The supervisor has been assigned a lawyer by the Philippines embassy following her repeated requests at the lower court.
The next hearing will be on April 15.
hdajani@thenational.ae
