A former Moi Girls High School student who is alleged to have caused fire that killed 10 of her fellow students was Sentenced to a five year jail term.
This was done today on February 24, after the High Court of Kenya found the girl to be guilty of the act whereby she was charged if manslaughter.
The then 14 year old girl who was in form one, was found guilty of involuntarily causing the death of ten girls at the Moi Girls High School Nairobi in 2017.
According to the court’s documents, the girl did not start fire with an intention of killing her dorm mates but did not want to go through a learning experience in that school.
The student made a desperate move in order to draw attention of her parents so that they may transfer her to another school. Little did she know that the fire could cause death of other students since the dorm had two floors.
According to the documents presented in court, some students who interacted with her knew of her intentions but took it for granted. Some of them revealed it to a teacher who showed no interest.
The convict had a matchbox at school but that was a normal thing according to the teacher who was told about the intention.
According to Mutuku, one of the high court judges, the girl was found guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of murder since there was no intention of killing.
As per the law, murder is defined as an intentional killing of another person. Therefore, if the death occurred accidentally, it is classified as manslaughter which holds a less severe penalty.
At some point, the convict was accused of being a member of a cult but she denied the charges and the judge dismissed it as well. This disqualified the point when the judge said, after the fire had started, the girl attempted to wake some of her friends.
