The Director of Public Prosecutions on Wednesday prescribed the death penalty for 14 people over a dormitory fire that occurred at Endarasha Boys' High School eight years ago.
Presenting in court, State Counsel Njagi Njue stated that circumstantial evidence showed that the fire that killed two students was caused by human beings using petroleum products.
“Circumstantially, the prosecution has been able to show the bodies were of a human being and belonged to the two students. The pathologist indicated that scientifically, the victims were burnt to death and ruled out the possibility of them being dead before the fire started. He explained that through what he called mechanism of death,” he told Justice Jairus Ngaah.
The prosecutor told the court that the two killed in the fire were Kennedy Karogo and Joseph Mwangi arguing the reason a jerican was found in the dormitory.
“[Why was that jerican in] the dormitory? It was not a garage. The container was used to carry petrol. Those who went to the scene said the fire was fierce and that they could not extinguish it. The fuel accelerated the fire,” Njue explained.
He added that the arsonists were identified after students were asked to write anonymous notes.
The former students were identified as Oby Tylene Oyugi, Derrick Wambugu, Davin Ndung’u, Andrew Kandia, Edward Karugu, Stephen Ndirangu, Wilson Wahome, Peter Njoroge, Arnold Mwaura, Ayub Kung’u, Kevin Muya and Gerishon Mwangi.
Also facing charges are petrol station businessmen Fredrick Githinji Wangai and Stephen Mwaniki Mutahi who were implicated in selling the petrol to the students.
In his argument, Njue stated that the two traders should have had the intelligence to know the students were up to no good when they bought the fuel.
“There was a common intention among all the suspects. They had malice aforethought,” Njue argued.
