Schoolboys charged with murdering 67 pupils

Two schoolboys have been charged with murdering 67 fellow pupils who died when a fire destroyed their dormitory in Kenya last month.

Felix Mambo Ngumbao, 16, and Davies Otieno Onyango, 17, stood quietly at a preliminary hearing in a packed Nairobi court.

They are both students at Kyanguli Secondary School where the blaze took place.

Ngumbao stood with his head bowed and fought back tears as the court clerk took three minutes to read out names of all the victims. Onyango stared straight at the clerk without showing emotion.

Onyango, who had both arms bandaged, slept in the dormitory the night of the fire and was among 19 students injured in the blaze. Ngumbao lived in a nearby dorm.

Court clerk Mohamed Noordin said if the two teenagers, who are minors under Kenyan law, were found guilty, they would face life imprisonment. The death penalty exists in Kenya for murder and robbery with violence,

Kyanguli headmaster David Mutiso Kiilu and his deputy, Stephen Kasyoka Makau, also appeared in court and were both charged with failing to prevent a crime.

They were remanded in custody after police Chief Inspector Moses Odoyo, who is prosecuting both cases, argued before the court that if the teachers were allowed bail, they could interfere with the case because they are influential people in the area where the offence took place.

"The chance of them running away before the trial starts is very high," Odoyo told the court.

Students believe the blaze was set by other pupils angry over the annulment of final exam results and demands that they pay outstanding school fees.