8 Kilifi Students Detained Over School Arson Attack
Eight students who were apprehended following a fire incident at Godoma Boys Secondary School in Kilifi, which cost the life of a form two student will be detained for 14 days.
The Kilifi court authorized police to detain the students who were apprehended following the 4 a.m. Monday school arson incident. They will be held at the Bamba police station while murder allegations are investigated.
The students set fire to a dormitory with a capacity of 110, where Fadhil Hassan, 17, perished after becoming confined inside. On Tuesday, he was set to rest in the Jomvu Muslim cemetery in Mombasa County.
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On Wednesday, the eight individuals appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Justus Kituku in Kilifi.
According to Corporal Humphrey Bunyasi of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kilifi, the students, along with others not before the court, will be charged with murder.
The investigating officer stated that the students were arrested on October 9 and that, due to the intricacies involved, the investigations cannot be concluded within the 24 hours mandated by law.
Mr. Bunyasi stated that the incident was reported at police station OB/3/9/10/2023 in Bamba.
He stated that time was required to collect witness statements from instructors, students, and security guards.
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The file will be sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution for review and counsel.
When the incident transpired, Fadhil was in the dormitory as other students left for morning classes.
Earlier, Kilifi County Commissioner Mr. Josephat Biwott stated that investigations were underway to determine why the student was inside a locked dormitory.
According to sources close to the investigation, notes were discovered in the school’s suggestion box indicating that some Form 4 students requested permission to visit their parents before taking the KCSE exams.
It was revealed that, after the incident, teachers gathered the students and, after taking a roll call, discovered that three students were absent: two students in Form 1 and one student in Form 2.
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Two of their parents verified that their children had arrived home safely. It prompted the security team and teachers to seek for the third student, whose burned dormitory body was discovered.
The County Commissioner reported that Ganze is the school in Kilifi County most afflicted by unrest over the past week.
Students at the secondary school for boys in Ganze, Japan, went on strike three times in one month.
“We are carrying out investigations because that is a very serious incident that we have never seen in this county for a very long time. We want to know why students have suddenly started having strikes in their schools,” said Mr. Biwott.
Additionally, students at the secondary schools Ganze Girls, Bandari, and Bale went on strike.
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8 Kilifi Students Detained Over School Arson Attack
