A trial has begun in Aktobe in the case of a 17-year-old college student who fell from the fourth floor of a dormitory while climbing out of a window on tied blankets, infohub.kz reports.
The tragedy occurred seven months ago at the dormitory of the College of Transport, Communications and New Technologies. According to the prosecution, three underclassmen were in a room when a 21-year-old fourth-year student, Madi Sugerbay, looked in on them. He first asked for cigarettes and, not finding any, sent the boys to search other rooms. Then, the prosecution alleges, he told them to go to a store for a snack. However, the dormitory doors were locked. According to the case file, the senior student then suggested lowering one of the boys through the window on tied blankets.
The 17-year-old Nurbakyt Bakyt began the descent and fell from the height. "We tied five blankets together. Yernar held one end, and the other was lowered through the window. I stood by the door. Nurbakyt started climbing down. Suddenly Yernar said he had fallen and was lying below with a bloodied head. I ran to the window and saw Nurbakyt on the ground," says a video shown in the courtroom.
The teenager reportedly fell from the height, suffered severe injuries and fell into a coma. The student died 42 days later. His mother is convinced that her son was intimidated and forced to carry out the senior student's errands. And when the tragedy happened, she says, the college administration tried to present it as an accident.
"At four in the morning I got a call from the college telling me my son had been taken to hospital. When I arrived in Aktobe, teachers and management met me. They claimed my son had gotten hungry at night and decided to climb out the window to go to a store for food. But I didn't believe it. The evening before, I had transferred him money. Later we even spoke by video call, and he showed me what he had bought," said the mother of the deceased, Kulaim Kolova.
The mother of the defendant was also present at the hearing. She came from Atyrau Region. The defendant is her seventh and youngest child. The woman categorically disagrees with the charges and believes her son is not guilty of anything.
"The children were getting ready to go to the store, and my son gave them 2,000 tenge. He asked: 'Buy me something too.' He wasn't involved in this story at all; he went to his room. My son wouldn't hurt a fly! No one said he hit or beat anyone. When it all happened, he wasn't even nearby. Now they are simply trying to shift all the blame onto my son," said the defendant's mother, Bakytzhamal Shabayeva.
Sugerbay has been charged under two articles — "Leaving a person in danger" and "Causing death by negligence." He denies guilt. The mother of the deceased demands that college and dormitory staff also be held accountable.