Residents of Endarasha village and school staff fought desperately to control a fire that engulfed Hillside Academy in Nyeri County, but their efforts were futile, an inquest revealed yesterday.
Three witnesses painted a harrowing account of the events that led to the deaths of 21 boys on the night of September 5 last year. They described their attempts to save the children from the burning dormitory, only to be met with tragic outcomes.
The testimony was given before Senior Resident Magistrate Mary Gituma on Thursday, with grieving parents present, hoping the inquest would bring answers.
Last month, families opposed the government’s decision to hold an inquest without first releasing a report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), saying they had been left in the dark until civil society groups stepped in to help them seek justice.
The families are represented by advocate Raphael Olieti, while lawyer Katwa Kigen appears for the school management and director David Kinyua.
School matron Beatrice Nduta, who had worked at Hillside Academy for just four months, told the court that 282 pupils were at the school that night, including 160 girls. She described how she had put the girls to bed after evening prep before being woken by screams and a knock on her door.
“I was asleep when a girl knocked on my door and told me that the boys’ dormitory, about 30 metres away and separated by a fence, was on fire,” Ms Nduta recounted. She immediately evacuated the girls before joining villagers and workers attempting to fight the blaze. Some tried to douse the flames with water from a nearby tank, while others rushed to rescue the boys.
“Some of the boys had fainted. I remember one boy being brought out, choking on smoke. We used blankets to fan air towards him, but he did not respond. I had to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him. That’s how he survived,” she said.
When asked how the tragedy affected her, Ms Nduta replied: “The events are still fresh in my mind and they torment me. I become distressed when I recall them. To the families who lost their loved ones, I pray that God gives them strength. The past year has been difficult for all of us.”
Security guard James Maina said he had just finished his patrol when he heard the boys shouting “fire!” He added that the patron who usually slept in the dormitory was absent after a motorcycle accident the previous day.
“The incident occurred at around 10.30 pm. I blew my whistle continuously to raise the alarm and people started streaming in from all directions, including villagers,” he told the court. He explained that the dormitory had three doors, two of which were normally left unlocked at night, though the boys sometimes closed them to keep out mosquitoes.
“The fire started near one of the doors, not inside the dormitory. I did not know the cause,” he said. He added, “When the fire broke out, we tried to save the boys by directing them to safety while others escaped through the windows.”
The inquest has been adjourned until next year, with Magistrate Gituma setting February 5 as the next hearing date.
