Keren’s Controversial Death: School Deflates Autopsy Result

BY TEMI OHAKWE, ABUJA – The controversy trailing the death of Keren Akpagher, an SS1 student of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, has continue to attract attention as the management of the private school has vehemently denied reports that the autopsy report of her lifeless body indicted the school.

The acting Principal of the school, Mr Chris Akinsowo told journalists at a press conference in Abuja that the autopsy result was yet to be released as a team of pathologists, led by the Nigerian police, only commenced their enquiry on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.

This is just a the Matron of the school, Grace Salami said it was not possible that the late student was raped in the school premises talk more of a condom found in her private part.

Salami said; “The statement did not add up to me because a condom is a latex not meant to be decayed. If you tell me that a condom must have been in that enclosure for a long period of time, maybe for months or years, if it was actually decaying, we must not see spermatozoa there again.

“So, I was not convinced. That was why I pressed further to see the doctor and see all the items,” she said.

The acting principal of the school, noted that the process of autopsy will take some days before the result could be out, and expressed worry that some groups have taken it upon themselves to spread fake news on the death of the student.

Akinsowo, who expressed grief over the death of Keren, said the student was released to her mother, Mrs Akpagher Vlhimga Vivien, in stable health condition on May 19, 2021, only to be told after two days that her condition deteriorated.

He further said; “The school only got to know about her admission in a hospital in the morning of Monday, 21 June 2021. We mobilised immediately and paid her a visit at the hospital on that day. It was with deep sympathy that we later heard of her demise early the next day, Tuesday, 22 June 2021,” he said.

Akinsowo disagreed with reports stating that the school refused to grant the mother of the deceased custody of her sick daughter, stressing that the school was not informed about the alleged molestation just as no medical report was sent to the school.

In his words; “This notwithstanding, the school has commenced an internal investigation to ascertain if this actually happened and who the perpetrators may be. No stone will be left unturned in the school’s quest to get to the root of the matter, not only to bring the perpetrator to book but also to forestall such incidents in the future.

“As an institution, the safety and security of our students are most paramount to us,” he said.

While commiserating with the parents of Keren over the tragedy, the school said the late student was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes Mellitus before admission into the school and had been on daily Insulin Injection during her stay in the school.

Akinsowon denied the possibility of a rape case in the school premises, adding that the school has a lot of structures that have been used to checkmate and guide against any such occurrence.

He disclosed that the school has, at least 54 CCTV cameras installed at strategic locations and adequate for the landscape of the school to monitor activities of staff and students, saying that their surveillance cameras capture every activity that goes on in the school.

According to Akinsowo; “The school leverages on adult supervision. In this regard, we have about 30 internal and external security guards who are positioned in different security beats.

“Thirdly, the school is structured in such a way whereby we have senior academic block and junior academic block and we have not less than 56 teachers who are on duty during the school hours and all the different compartments of the school are with burglar bar,” he said.

The acting principal also raised the alarm that could be a smear campaign targeting the school following the high academic performance of its students’ year-in-year-out.

Akinsowo appealed to Nigerians to await the autopsy result and ongoing investigation being carried out by the Nigeria Police to ascertain the cause of Karen’s death.

It was alleged that the 14-year-old Keren allegedly died of an infection after a condom was found in her private part.

The report also alleged that Keren was believed to have been sexually molested before she was withdrawn from the school by her mother, on June 19, 2021, for treatment, but died two days later in a hospital in the Wuse 2 district of Abuja.