Student blinded by teacher tells court his future is ruined

Marco Galloso, a 19-year-old of Francistown who was allegedly punished by his teacher leading to loss of his eye sight on Monday told the Francistown High Court Judge, Terrence Rranowane, that his future is doomed and all his dreams are shattered due to the ordeal.

According to a summons by his lawyer, David Ditiro, of Francistown-based law firm, Tshekiso Ditiro and Jani Legal Practice, on the 8th of March in 2006, the teacher, Simphiwo Ngozi, hit his student with a stick which led to vision impairment.

Galloso’s mother, Lingani Kgosiemang, is demanding P1m from the government as compensation and for damages.

However, testifying before court on Monday, Galloso said that losing his eye sight did not only leave him physically scarred but has left him with no hope as most of his dreams have been shattered. He said that, as an intelligent child at school, he had many dreams and added that now the tragedy that befell him has robbed him of his pride and hope in life.

“Although I passed my Senior Secondary School examination with 41 points I believe I could have passed much better if it was not for the visual impairment,” said the emotional Galloso.
Called to the witness box to testify, Galloso’s mother told court that the future of her child has been ruined, owing to the merciless teacher who permanently injured her son. She said that she cannot imagine the adversity that her son will have to go through when he reaches the age of 40 years.

The defendant, who is still a teacher at Montsamaisa Secondary School in Francistown, told the court in her testimony that she did not injure Galloso intentionally as she was merely punishing another student with a stick when it broke and accidentally injured him. She said that after realizing that he was injured she even took him to the hospital and later on provided a private doctor to attend to him.

“It was never my intention to injure Galloso; it was a mere accident,” she said to court.
The defendant is represented by Charles Gulubane of the Attorney General’s office and judgment has been reserved as both lawyers are to serve court with written submissions.