Details have emerged of how a 16-year-old Form Two student at Godoma Boys’ Secondary School in Kilifi County met his death after being trapped in the middle of raging flames inside the hostel where he was sleeping.

The incident came in the wake of a rising wave of school unrest in the area where arson attacks were reported in seven secondary schools of Ganze sub county, all occurring within the first 12 days of October.

The late Fadhil Hassan who the family describes as down-to-earth, hardworking and talented footballer, allegedly remained inside the dormitory while the rest of his colleagues left for morning preps when fire erupted at around 4.00am.

It has now emerged the ill-fated Kifaru dormitory where the charred remains of the teenager were found, was under lock and key, raising questions of possible foul play in the incident as no amount of distress call would have saved him as the fire completely razed down the 110-capacity dormitory with nothing to salvage.

The family of the deceased has raised multiple questions, demanding answers and justice for their kin.

What baffles Hassan’s parents is why the teacher on duty, the dorm master, the teachers, the school guard and fellow students failed to respond immediately to put out the fire and save belongings of other students. The family also questions why the dormitory windows were grilled which is against the law.

Family cries

The family led by Fadhili’s father Mshahali Hassan also questions why the school kept them in darkness since they learnt of the death of their son, only to report it after six hours, a call from Fadhili’s the class teacher.

“We want to know why they kept quiet and hid the matter from us until they took the body to the mortuary, my son died a very painful death and we demand answers from the school administration, “said Hassan when addressing journalists at his Kizingo home in Mombasa.

Mshahali, a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) staff, now reads mischief and demands the school administration be held responsible for the death of their second born son. The case was reported at Bamba Police Station OB/3/9/10/2023.

Dormitory fire

“Why did they leave my son to die alone in the dormitory, why did they lock the door without checking whether all students are out of the dormitory, why didn’t they make any efforts to salvage anything from the burning dormitory, and why was the dormitory windows grilled,” these are questions we want answers,” said Hassan.

Fadhili was laid to rest on Tuesday after 4pm prayers at Masjid Rahma and laid to rest at the Jomvu Kuu Muslim Cemetery.

Speaking at their home in Jomvu Kuu village, Fadhili’s Mother Swabra Hassan questioned why her son’s body was taken to the Kilifi Hospital mortuary against the Muslim tradition.

“My son is a Muslim, why did they remove the body from the scene without even a family member, the worst thing they did is to store his body in the mortuary against the Muslim tradition,” said Swabra.

Eight students who were arrested following a fire incident are still detained at Bamba Police Station pending investigations on murder charges. The Kilifi court allowed police to detain the students who were arrested after the Monday 4am arson incident at the school.

The eight were arraigned before Kilifi Senior Resident Magistrate Justus Kituku on Wednesday but were still remanded with investigations ongoing. According to the investigating Officers investigating the case, the students will continue to be detained as police gather statements from teachers, school guards, students and other key suspects.

Kilifi County Commissioner Josephat Biwott said investigations were underway to establish why the boy was inside the dormitory whose exit was locked from outside.

The County Commissioner said in the past week, schools have recorded unrest, with Ganze being the worst-affected in Kilifi County. He cited Ganze Boys secondary school, where the students went on strike three times within one month.

“We are carrying out investigations because that is a very serious incident which we have never seen in this county for a very long time. We want to know why students have suddenly started having strikes in their schools,” said Biwott.