A 17-year-old school girl accused of arson was yesterday arraigned before Kapenguria resident magistrate court. Eldon Chepyator, 17, was accused that on the 12th of July 2018 at Nasokol girls secondary school of West Pokot Sub County within West Pokot County, she jointly with others not before the court, willingly and unlawfully set on fire one dormitory called Turkwel dormitory valued at Kshs 4,487,500 belonging to Nasokol girls secondary school.
The arson offence is contrary to section 332 (a) of the penal court. The accused who appeared before the resident magistrate, Ms Phoebe Kulecho, pleaded not guilty and was released on a bond of Kshs 200,000 with a similar surety or a cash bail of Kshs 100,000.
The lawyer of the accused, Eric Changarok, requested for the review of the bond and cash bail, but the court denied the review. “I pray that the terms of the bond be reviewed because the suspect is a minor,” pleaded Changarok.
“The subject should be remanded at Kapenguria police station until the bond or cash bail is settled,” said the magistrate. Kulecho ordered the case to be mentioned on 3rd, August 2018 and hearing on 17/08/2018.
Meanwhile, police are still interrogating other three girls at Kapenguria police station in connection with the same arson case.
The dormitory was gutted by fire on Thursday, 12/07/2018 around 6.30am, but it is said that a CCTV captured the footage of four girls trying to damage the gadget.
