Witness: Rumor had it that Chebuyusi will be torched

Remains of a dormitory set on fire in recent student unrests. [Photo, File]

A court was yesterday told that the burning of a store at Chebuyusi High School was deliberate.

Testifying before Senior Principal Magistrate Thomas Muraguri, three students said the arsonists had issued a warning about what they planned to do.

A Form One student recruited by the head boy to spy on the suspects narrated how the arson was executed.

The 15-year-old student said he and his friends were coming from supper at around 6.30pm on July 11 when they met two of the accused students who hinted at the arson attack.

“The first accused person told me they were going to burn the school store so we could go home,” he told the court.

A second witness told the court that the first accused also told them to keep their bus fare ready because the school could burn at any time.

The witnesses said they were cautioned against sharing the information with anyone. They said they wanted to tell the head boy but never got a chance because of school rules.

“We came from the evening preps late. We had been cautioned against moving around that night so we could not go to the head boy’s cubicle to share the information with him."

They were testifying in a case in which five Form Two students have been charged with burning down the school store valued at Sh116,000 on July 15.

The five had initially pleaded guilty to the charge only to deny it after four days in custody. They are out on a bond of Sh80,000.

The case was adjourned to August 30 to allow other witnesses to testify after the August holidays.