Kenyan court charges eight schoolgirls with their fellow students' murder

NAIROBI, July 1 - A Kenyan court charged eight schoolgirls on Wednesday with murder for the deaths of 16 of their fellow students in a dormitory fire at a school in Kenya's Rift Valley in late May, the public prosecutor's office said.

The girls died after fire swept through the dormitory at Utumishi Girls' Academy Senior School in Gilgil, Nakuru County, located in Kenya's west-central region, injuring another 79 students. Students at the school are aged from 15 to 18 years.

The eight defendants appeared before Nairobi's Kibera High Court Judge Diana Kavedza and all pleaded not guilty to the charge, the Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement on its X account.

Prosecutors have so far given no other details on the case.

The blaze renewed scrutiny of safety in Kenyan boarding schools and recurring student unrest in the education system.

Fires are common at Kenyan schools, with many set by students protesting against harsh discipline and poor conditions, researchers have found.

Kenya has suffered several deadly school fires. In 2024, a fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County killed 21 children.

In the worst school fire of recent times, 67 schoolboys were killed in 2001 at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi, an incident the authorities attributed to arson.

Education Minister Julius Ogamba said in May that unrest since the incident had caused the temporary closure of at least 204 senior schools across the country.

Most schools, including Utumishi Girls' Academy Senior School, have since resumed studies. REUTERS