Stephora Joseph. Source: Instagram screenshots courtesy of @raey_eenah_tiana, @lunionsuite, @eliovaldez27, @raey_eenah_tiana

On Dec. 6, the Public Prosecution Office in the Dominican Republic announced that four employees of the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute in Santiago were arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 11‑year‑old Stephora Anne-Mircie Joseph, a Haitian national who drowned during a “reward trip” for high-achieving students on Nov. 14.

The detained are Yris del Carmen Reyes Adame, the school’s administrative director; Gisela González, general coordinator; Francisca Josefina Tavarez Vélez, a guidance counselor; and Vilma Altagracia Vargas Morel, a secondary‑level coordinator.

Four employees of the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute in Santiago, Dominican Republic, were arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 11‑year‑old Stephora Anne-Mircie Joseph on Dec 6. Source: Instagram @infofiableht

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Authorities say video evidence shows “extreme negligence” by the chaperones assigned to supervise 87 students at Hacienda Los Caballos, a ranch in Gurabo, just north of Santiago. The private ranch, which is not listed as prohibited for school activities, also has a pool, violating the 2009 Ministry of Education decree that bans school outings to beaches, rivers, and unsecured pools. According to the investigation, there were no lifeguards present, life jackets were not required, the pool’s depth was not assessed beforehand, and the ranch also lacked any medical staff or safety equipment on the premises.

Stephora’s mother, Lovelie Raphael Joseph, 43, said that her daughter did not know how to swim.

On the morning of the outing, Joseph dropped Stephora off at 7:15 a.m. to join the other students. Then at 11:30 a.m., she received a call informing her that her daughter was not well and asking which hospital Stephora should be taken to. A few minutes later, she got a WhatsApp message telling her to come to the ranch. However, when she arrived, she said no other students or school officials were there. Joseph only saw an ambulance and the police, who would not allow her to see her daughter because she was “receiving medical attention,” she told the Miami Herald.

Source: Instagram @luionsuite

Four hours later, a local authority finally approached the distraught mother and said, “Tomorrow, go pick [up] her corpse” from the morgue.

Joseph said that day, neither the authorities nor school officials provided her with any real details surrounding Stephora’s death. “My daughter left school alive. They gave her back to me dead,” she said.

The post ‘Go Pick Up Her Corpse’ — Dominican Republic Officials Let 11-Year-Old Haitian Girl Stephora Joseph Die [Op-Ed] appeared first on MadameNoire.



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Tags anti-bullying Bullying Death Dominican Republic Drowning Francisca Josefina Tavarez Vélez Fury Gisela González Hacienda Los Caballos Haitian Hispaniola Ignites Leonardo Da Vinci Institute Lovelie Raphael Joseph Santiago School Stephora Stephora Anne-Mircie Joseph Stephora Joseph student The Leonardo Da Vinci Institute Trip Vilma Altagracia Vargas Morel Yris del Carmen Reyes Adame