Three Stephjoy Boys High School students to be charged with murder of colleagues

Stephjoy Boys High School chairman David Ngacha (left) and the school's founder, Ms Joyce Mugambi (second right), during a fact-finding visit by the National Assembly's Committee on Education, led by chairman Sabina Chege (centre) on August 5, 2015. PHOTO | ERIC WAINAINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Ethieba said they were gathering more evidence against them and they would be arraigned in court to face murder charges.
  • Two students, Ian Kamau and Edwin Mugo, died in the Sunday night fire, which gutted two dormitories.
  • The eleven boys were still being held at the Tigoni Police Station.
  • Detectives were also collaborating with the public works department to invesitigate the officer who approved the construction of the dormitory.

Three out of the eleven students from Stephjoy Boys High School in Limuru who were arrested following a fire incident that killed three of their colleagues on Sunday night will to be charged with murder.

Limuru Criminal Investigation Officer Mwenda Etheiba told the National Assembly's Education Committee, which visited the school Wednesday on a fact-finding mission, that their investigations pointed to three out of the eleven boys who were arrested.

The officer said their investigations had confirmed that the fire was started by students but they were yet to establish the motive behind it and the inflammable material that was used.

Two students, Ian Kamau and Edwin Mugo, died during the Sunday night fire that gutted two dormitories.

A third student, Zachary Njoroge, succumbed to burn injuries on Monday night while undergoing treatment at Kenyatta Nation National Hospital.

Mr Ethieba said officers were gathering more evidence against the suspects and they would be arraigned in court to face murder charges.

“We have isolated the three boys because there is evidence linking them to the fire incident.

“We will be charging them any day from tomorrow (Thursday),” Mr Ethieba told the committee, led by its chairman, Muran'ga County Woman Representative Sabina Chege.

The eleven boys were being held at the Tigoni Police Station after a court allowed police to hold them until Thursday to facilitate further investigations.

DORMITORY CONSTRUCTION

Detectives are also collaborating with the public works department in probing the officer who approved the construction of the dormitory, which is said not to have met the required standards.

Ms Chege said the committee would probe the matter and make recommendations before tabling a report in Parliament.

The committee, she said, had already asked for reports from the police, the education department and the public works department.

“This is a serious case and as a committee we will work on it and file a report.

“We will be interrogating the level of investigations and we will be seeking to know from the Education ministry and the public works (department)whether the school’s infrastructure has been built to the required standards,” Ms Chege said.

She said that committee members had observed that the dormitories did not meet the set safety standards, adding that they would involve experts in preparing their report.

The committee also recommended that police arrest and prosecute students from a school run by the same management, Stephjoy Girls High School in Kikuyu, who were involved in burning a dormitory in July.

“The girls should be summoned together with their parents and those who will be found culpable should also be arrested and charged because they are a threat,” she said.