The September 5, 2024 fire tragedy at Hillside Endarasha Academy in which 21 boys perished evoked memories of a similar incident 14 years ago.
On October 17, 2010, two boys were killed when a dormitory was set on fire at Endarasha Boys High School.
Both occurred during third term and parents were left in suspense for days as they waited for information about their loved ones.
While the parents of pupils who died at Hillside Academy are still groping in the dark, the Endarasha Boys case was found to have been an arson attack. Twelve people, including nine students, were charged with murder.
However, 14 years down the line, parents of the two boys who died in the fire incident at Endarasha Boys are still seeking justice after all the suspects were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Nation caught up with Ms Virginia Wanjiku Njuguna — the mother of Kennedy Karugu who died in the 2010 tragedy — at her home on the outskirts of Nyeri town.
Pictures of the 21 children who died in the dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy.
Photo credit: Pool
Monday October 18, 2010 was a normal day for Ms Njuguna. She was doing her laundry at home in the morning when a caretaker from a nearby church stopped by. He then asked her a question that would haunt her forever.
She learnt that Father Wambugu dormitory in which her 15-year-old son who was a Form One student at the school stayed, had been burnt at night.
“I froze,” she recalled. “How could such a thing happen and no one informed me?”
Ms Njuguna’s husband decided to make the 50-kilometre journey to the school, leaving her behind consumed by anxiety. When he arrived, the news was grim.
Kennedy was missing and the school administration told her husband that he was among the boys who had jumped over the fence to escape the fire. He was assured that his missing son would eventually return.
Inside the burnt Hillside Endarasha Academy dorm
Eleven of them had been returned by villagers that same night, while two more resurfaced in the morning. The dormitory that burnt exclusively hosted Form One students. The dorm could accommodate 184 boys, and 176 students were present on the night of the fire.
Back at home, Ms Njuguna visited a neighbour whose son was in the same school — his parents had just picked him up.
“I didn’t know what to make of it,” she said. “That silence told me everything and nothing at the same time.”
Unknown to her, news of Kennedy’s death had already circulated on social media. But since she did not have a phone, Ms Njuguna was among the last people to know.
That evening, her husband called her through a relative’s phone and asked her to meet him at the Nyeri County Referral Hospital.
Clinging onto hope, Ms Njuguna assumed that her son had been admitted to hospital.
But when she arrived at the hospital, she was directed to the mortuary where the devastating truth awaited her.
Her son, Kennedy, had died in the fire and his body was burnt beyond recognition.
“We identified him because the other boy who also died in the fire, Joseph Mwangi, had a broken front tooth,” Ms Njuguna said.
She said that Kennedy was found with his shoes on, an indication that he had already woken up and was trying to escape.
Investigations showed that the charred remains of the boys were found on the right side of the door next to a bed, covered in soot.
About 20 metres from the dormitory, police found a 10-litre empty plastic container that emitted petrol fumes.
Nine students and three local residents, suspected to have set the dormitory on fire, were arrested. They were charged with two counts of murder before the High Court in Nyeri.
They all denied the charges and were each released on a Sh500,000 bond. Kennedy was buried a week after the fire incident.
Ms Njuguna said that the school administration visited the family just once, during the burial. And no one mentioned the investigations into the fire as the matter was already in court.
Despite the school being a government institution, Ms Njuguna said they did not get any counselling nor follow up support.
“They forgot about us. We had to hold several fundraisers to cover the funeral expenses. The only help we got was food donations from our area MP,” she said.
Over the last 14 years, Ms Njuguna has lived in anguish, tormented by lack of closure. She said that neither detectives who were investigating the fire incident nor the school administration has reached out to the family.
While the family initially hired its own lawyer, the costs increasingly became a burden as the court proceedings were marred by delays.
A drone footage of Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County with the burnt dormitory at the centre.
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
“I only attended the court once,” Ms Njuguna said. “It was too painful. Every time his name (Kennedy) was mentioned, I broke down.”
The family was dealt a heavy blow on October 2, 2020, when all the suspects were acquitted.
In his judgement, Justice Jairus Ngaah ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, noting that evidence presented before court was circumstantial and insufficient.
Ms Njuguna said that she learnt of the case dismissal —not from the courts, but from a TV news bulletin.
“We were watching news with my daughter,” she recalled. “My daughter cried when she heard the judgment. It felt like we had lost Kennedy all over again.”
The family last saw their firstborn son alive during the mid-term break, a week before the fire incident.
Parents and relatives stand next to the caskets of the 21 children who died in the dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy during the burial service at Mweiga Stadium, Nyeri County on September 26, 2024.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
Just like parents of Hillside Academy, who said their children had complained about poor learning conditions, Ms Njuguna said that her son had raised issues about the school.
The students had gone on strike three times that year, citing issues such as poor diet and administration.
“Every time he came home for holidays he complained about the school. I had planned to transfer him to a better one but since it was the last term of the year, I promised him he would join a new school in Form Two,” she said, adding that she was also concerned about the frequent student strikes at the institution.
During the court hearing, then school principal, Mr Laban Mugwanja, was the first witness to testify.
He recalled how on the evening of October 16, 2010, he was away from the school when he received a call around 6.30pm from one of the teachers.
The teacher informed him that he had received information about an impending students’ strike that evening.
According to court documents, the strike which was organised by Form Three students, who had just been suspended, was to start at 9.30pm after the evening preps.
After learning of the development, Mr Mugwanja said he immediately informed the police and asked his deputy, Mr Martin Muraya, to mobilise the teachers to ensure order.
Officers from Mweiga Police Station accompanied by the principal and the area sub-county commander spoke to the students. They managed to calm the situation. By around 1am, the police left the school and no further disturbances were reported that night.
However, the following evening on October 17, 2010, Mr Mugwanja said he took extra precaution and asked teachers and watchmen to maintain surveillance. However, this time he did not involve the police.
After releasing the teachers at 11pm, just 30 minutes later, he heard one of the four watchmen shouting about a fire. An investigation team was set up to establish the cause.
Inspector Peter Kimani, one of the investigating officers, worked alongside a disciplinary committee comprising Mr Mugwanja, Mr Muraya and several teachers.
According to his investigations, Inspector Kimani said that the petrol was transported to the school by Mburu, a boda boda rider.
During the investigations, he visited the house where the petrol was purchased and recovered two jerricans, each half-filled with petrol.
During interrogation, students identified four Form One students as suspects, citing their unusual behaviour that night.
The police reportedly relied on students’ and teachers’ accounts, leading to a collapse of the case.
And in a twist of events, the police denied in court that they had relied on information from students and teachers in their probe. During the court proceedings, one of the investigating officers, Corporal Reuben Kipkorir, denied the existence of secret notes.
Inspector Kimani, the officer in charge of Endarasha Police Post who arrested the suspects, told the court that during his investigation, he discovered that each of the accused students contributed Sh100 to purchase petrol, which was then used to douse the dormitory before it was set on fire.
The students bought the petrol from a boda boda operator at Sh400. The court heard that the money was delivered through three locals who were subsequently presented before court alongside the accused students.
The students were accused of buying firewood from a seller named Kitu, who then gave it to a Mburu, a boda boda rider, to deliver to a Macharia, the owner of the business. In his testimony, Kitu told the court that he owed Macharia Sh500 and the money was part of that debt repayment.
But Justice Ngaah in his judgement said the evidence by the three accused locals was confusing and could not seal the loopholes in the prosecution’s case.
The judge also criticised the police for failing to question the students interrogated by the disciplinary committee so as to verify their narrative.
