Nguyễn Bích Quy is being prosecuted for unintentional murder. — Photo vnexpress.net

HÀ NỘI — Cầu Giấy District’s investigative police have begun legal proceedings against Nguyễn Bích Quy, a school bus monitor for Hà Nội’s Gateway International School, following the death of a first grader there.

The decision to prosecute Quy for unintentional murder was made after the police started an investigation into the case 20 days ago.

The 55-year-old defendant can be released on bail.

Quy has been charged with failing to perform an attendance check when the students left the bus, leading to the death of Lê Hoàng Long after he was forgotten on the bus for nine hours on August 6.

The results of the autopsy showed that the boy died of thermal shock and respiratory failure. No pathological causes were mentioned.

The district’s People’s Procuracy said the school bus driver, Doãn Quý Phiến, was also responsible for the death of the student. He failed to check the school bus before leaving it. 

Phiến was under investigation for his negligence and failure to act responsibly. 

The responsibilities of the school’s management board would be clarified soon, the procuracy said.

Quy said she would request a lawyer to protect her rights during the investigation process.

She said she was not assigned the tasks of the job and did not understand her responsibilities.

She had been working as a school bus monitor for just two days. She did not sign a contract with the Gateway International School.

On August 6, on the second day of the new school year, the six-year-old student was picked up at Trung Yên Plaza Building by a 16-seat vehicle. Eleven students on the bus were transported to Gateway International School in Cầu Giấy District.

At 4pm the same day, the student's family received the news that their child had not been present in class. 

Later, the family was informed the child had been found inside the school bus, and then was told he had died.

After taking the students to the school in the morning, the 53 year-old driver said he parked the bus at the dormitory of the Academy of Journalism and Communication nearby.

At 3.30pm, returning to the bus to pick the students up from school, the monitor opened to door and found the young boy unconscious on the floor behind the driver's seat. — VNS