Eight students detained over death of boy in Kilifi school fire
The students allegedly set fire to a 110-bed dormitory, killing Fadhil Hassan, 17, who was trapped inside. He was buried at Jomvu Muslim Cemetery in Mombasa County on Tuesday.
A Kilifi court has allowed police to remand for 14 days eight students arrested following a fire at Godoma Boys Secondary School that claimed the life of a Form Two student.
The students, who were arrested following the arson attack on the school at 4am on Monday, will be held at Bamba Police Station pending an investigation of murder charges.
The students allegedly set fire to a 110-bed dormitory, killing Fadhil Hassan, 17, who was trapped inside. He was buried at Jomvu Muslim Cemetery in Mombasa County on Tuesday.
The eight were arraigned before Kilifi Senior Resident Magistrate Justus Kituku on Wednesday.
According to the investigating officer, Corporal Humphrey Bunyasi of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kilifi, the students will be charged with murder along with others not in court.
The investigating officer said the students were arrested on October 9 and due to technicalities, the investigation could not be completed within 24 hours as required by law.
Mr Bunyasi said the case was reported to Bamba police station.
He said they needed time to take statements from witnesses including teachers, pupils and the security guards.
The file will be submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution for review and advice.
The late Fadhil was in the dormitory when other students had left for their morning preparations before the incident occurred.
Exit was locked from the outside
Earlier, Kilifi County Commissioner Josephat Biwott said investigations were underway to ascertain why the boy was inside the dormitory whose exit was locked from the outside at the time of the incident.
Sources close to the ongoing investigations told the Nation that some notes were found in the school's suggestion box indicating that some Form Four students had demanded to be allowed to go home for their parents' blessings before sitting the KCSE examinations.
After the fire incident, the teachers gathered the students and after a roll call, they discovered that three students were missing; two in Form One and one in Form Two.
They contacted their parents and two confirmed that their children had returned home safely. This prompted the security team and teachers to search for the third student and his body was found in the burnt dormitory.
The county commissioner said schools had been experiencing unrest for the past week, with Ganze being the worst affected in Kilifi.
He cited Ganze Boys Secondary School, where pupils went on strike three times in a month.
"We are conducting investigations because this is a very serious incident that we have not seen in this county for a very long time. We want to know why students have suddenly gone on strike in their schools," said Mr Biwott.
Students at Ganze Girls Secondary School, Bandari and Bale also went on strike.
