Owner of kindergarten arrested after three-year-old boy dies in shuttle bus

İZMİR

The owner of a kindergarten was arrested on Aug. 18 on charges of “involuntary cause of death” and “spoliation of crime evidence” after a three-year-old toddler died inside the school’s shuttle, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Alperen Sakin was reportedly forgotten inside the shuttle after arriving at his kindergarten in İzmir’s Çiğli district on Aug. 15. After several hours, officials from the kindergarten found him passed out in the shuttle.
Yurdagül İşgören said she was only the owner of the school not the headmistress and that the headmistress of the kindergarten was out of the province when the incident occurred.

She denied responsibility for the incident, accusing the assistant on the shuttle and the teacher for not taking attendance.

In her initial testimony, İşgören said they found him unconscious when they went to wake him up.
She later changed her testimony, saying she had no idea about the little boy. She blamed the teachers and said they should have noticed his absence when they had taken attendance. 

İşgören also reportedly stole the camera footage while she was with the toddler’s grieving mother, telling her the cameras were not working when she asked. 

The death triggered anger among people, with many parents who sent their children to the kindergarten filing complaints and demanding for the closure of the school.

Upon this response, the provincial directorate of education in İzmir sent inspectors to take part in the school’s investigation process. 

Following the incident, two people, identified only by their initials T.İ. and D.K., were detained and referred to court. The court arrested the driver of the shuttle but the other suspect, the assistant on the shuttle, was released on Aug. 17.