Calls multiply for justice after teacher tortures pupil to near-death

Many have called for the prosecution of Daniel, a teacher arrested in the town of Douala yesterday.

The teacher’s arrest came shortly after a video of him beating up a pupil was released online.

He is said to have shared the video on his WhatsApp status before it went viral online. In the clip, he tortured the minor with pepper, a gas pipe, a hammer, and even a machete, after stripping the boy naked in a classroom.

Seeking to justify his stance later, he claimed the boy had been delinquent and needed correction. The boy’s mother, he went on, had permitted him to teach him a lesson through discipline.

Though teacher Daniel has been arrested, many say he should be prosecuted alongside those he carried out the act with, and with the kid’s mother, if truly he had her blessing to torture the kid that way.

Before this arrest, however, as pressure mounted for his arrest, the teacher made another video apologizing for the act.

He said he had not been at peace since torturing the boy.

Hear him: “I know the world is angry at me. I am pleading for your forgiveness. What I did to that child was inhumane…”

He also promised, “… never to do it again”.

Now that he is behind bars, many say prosecuting the teacher should be the next step, and should serve as a lesson for others.

Anglophone crisis, teachers’ protest compounding problem?

For the past years, teachers in Cameroon have been outraged by their work conditions and take-home packages.

Most recently, some coordinated strike action, refusing to reach until they are paid what is due them.

This and the sociopolitical unrest in the Anglophone regions, many believe, are part of the reasons why teachers appear to be taking out their frustrations on parents and kids.

In many cases, some have gone for months and even years without getting a single dime from their employers.

Weeks back in Ndop, Ngoketunjia division of the North West Region, the salaries of thousands of teachers were suspended.

To date, most have not been restored, leaving the teachers miserable and in want.