NAIVASHA, KENYA – The Naivasha High Court has granted an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to detain eight suspects linked to the Utumishi Girls Academy fire tragedy for an additional two days.
The suspects will remain in custody pending their formal arraignment to face 16 counts of murder.
The order was issued on Wednesday by Chief Magistrate Abdulqadir Ramadhan Lorot when the matter came up for mention to confirm the status of investigations.
The prosecution team, led by Deputy Regional Coordinator Ms. Emmah Bosire alongside Ms. Emma Okok and Mr. Joseck Abwajo, informed the court that the DPP had approved the murder charges under Sections 203 and 204 of the Penal Code.
Following the application, the court allowed the continued detention of the eight suspects until June 26, 2026. They will be remanded at either the Nakuru Children Remand Home or the Nairobi Children Remand Home.
However, the court ordered the immediate release of one suspect, directing she be handed over to her parents after investigations cleared her of culpability.
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Tragedy and Motive Revealed
The legal development follows the devastating May 28, 2026, inferno at the boarding school in Gilgil, Nakuru County, which claimed the lives of 16 female students and injured 79 others.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) painted a chilling picture of calculated arson.
DCI detectives established that the tragedy was sparked by a dispute between the learners and the school administration.
In their statements, the suspects reportedly confessed to protesting a sudden change in the national examination calendar, a controversial fee levied on a school cultural event, and peer influence stemming from a strike at a neighboring boys’ school.
CCTV footage captured the horror unfolding just past midnight. The video showed several students walking stealthily through the first-floor corridors of the two-story dormitory to ensure their schoolmates were asleep. Moments later, suspects used kerosene and mattresses to ignite a fire in a cubicle before moving to an adjacent room to repeat the act.
The fire quickly trapped over 200 students sleeping on the upper floor, blockading the single staircase and the lone exit door. Autopsy reports revealed that ten victims died from suffocation due to choking smoke, while six were burned beyond recognition.
The incident has led Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to dissolve the school’s Board of Management over extreme negligence, citing a locked emergency exit and over-capacity dormitories.
As the eight remaining suspects await their June 26 plea-taking, the Office of the DPP has expressed profound concern over rising cases of arson in local educational institutions, reaffirming its commitment to holding perpetrators fully accountable.
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