Five students arraigned in court over school fire

Five students of Muhoho High School in Gatundu, Kiambu County were on Friday morning arraigned in court over their suspected involvement in an arson case that saw six classes torched on Wednesday.

However, appearing before the Gatundu Principal Magistrate Ms A.M. Maina, the five were not required to plea to arson charges after the state applied for more to finalize investigations.

The investigating officer, Richard Kalaine, said there was sufficient reason to believe that the suspects were connected with an arson case in the school in which property valued at Ksh 10 million was destroyed.

CID officer in charge told the court that owing to the large number of students set to record statements over the incident, there is a need for more time and subsequently applied for a ten-day investigating widow.

Kalaine also said the five were arrested on Thursday evening and there was likelihood that they would interfere with witnesses if set free at the moment.

The court granted the prosecution’s plea and set August 5th as the mention date for the case.

In the meantime, all the 860 students of Muhoho High School were sent home indefinitely following the fire incident.

The Principal, Sam Kahura, said they will be called back once the school repairs the destroyed classrooms.