Kindergarten director detained over death of 2.5-year-old girl

Earlier, a toddler tragically died after getting caught inside the vehicle of a kindergarten director in the Koson district of Kashkadarya region. According to court documents reviewed by QALAMPIR.UZ, the kindergarten head, was found guilty in the case and sentenced to three years in prison.

The documents stated that L.H., born in 1994, established a private preschool in 2024 and served as its director. The deceased, Z.I., was enrolled in the kindergarten despite being underage.

Although L.H. did not have a driver’s license, he regularly used his spouse’s car to transport children from their homes to the kindergarten in the morning and back home in the evening. On June 20 of this year, she drove seven children to the preschool. While unloading the children, she accidentally left 2.5-year-old Z.I. inside the vehicle. The child remained trapped for six hours in a locked car with closed windows and doors, suffocating and ultimately dying.

The case was heard on September 11 at the Criminal Court of the  Dehkanabad district. During the session, the toddler’s mother stated that the kindergarten director, L.H.’s negligence could not be excused in any way and requested that legal measures be taken against him.

L.H. herself admitted her guilt and provided testimony in court. According to her statement, 25 children were registered at the kindergarten, and occasionally, the children of acquaintances also attended. She transported the children daily from their homes to the kindergarten in her spouse’s Spark vehicle. At times, despite not having a driver’s license, she personally drove the children to the preschool and back home. On the morning of June 20 of this year, she picked up seven children from the neighborhood in her car, including 2.5-year-old Z.I.

On that day, she brought the children to the kindergarten. Holding two children who were seated in the front, she opened the rear door to let out five more children from the back seat. After placing the two children she was holding on the sidewalk near the kindergarten, she walked toward the front of the car and noticed the other children had gotten out on their own. While attending to two of the children who were misbehaving, she lost track of whether all the children had exited the vehicle. She then continued to look after the children until midday. Around 1:00 pm, after giving them lunch and putting them down for a nap, she realized that Z.I. was missing. At that time, her spouse arrived and asked for the car keys, which is when they discovered that the toddler had been left inside the vehicle.

The court found L.H. guilty of committing a crime under part 3 of Article 116 of the Criminal Code (failure to properly perform professional duties resulting in death) and sentenced her to three years of imprisonment. The sentence is to be served in a correctional colony.

It is worth noting that a child born in 2023 died from electric shock at a private kindergarten due to the negligence of a teacher in the Bukhara district of the Bukhara region on March 28 of this year.