It’s D-Day today for six teenage students of Byimana School of Sciences who are charged with arson over repeatedly torching the school. Judge Bernadette Mukansanga of Muhanga Intermediate Court is expected to announce her ruling in the case involving the teenagers, who allegedly burnt the school between April and June. The public session ruling is slated for 3pm. The teenagers are all Senior One and Two students at the Ruhango-based school. The suspects, whose identities this paper cannot reveal because they are minors, first appeared in court last week in a session behind closed-doors. Only four of the six students were in court during the hearing. The State chose to send the two others, who are under 14, to a rehabilitation centre, a source at the court told The New Times after the hearing. This means that only the fate of four teenagers will be decided. When their trial opened the teenagers, represented by a team of five lawyers, pleaded guilty to hatching a plan to set the school on fire and executing it. Mysterious fires Byimana School of Sciences suffered three fire incidents in less than 40 days in which three dormitories and a chapel were destroyed. The first fire, on April 23 at around 8am, broke out moments after students had started their morning lessons, destroying a dormitory. About 400 O-Level students were temporarily sent home while efforts were made to mobilise support. A month after the first incident, fire broke again, destroying another dormitory and a chapel. Security was tightened at the school as concerns over the safety of students increased. Police also launched investigations into the cause of the fires. But as the officers continued with efforts to unlock the puzzle, a third fire was reported once more at the school on June 2. A third dormitory was reduced to ashes and school authorities estimated the loss in excess of Rwf400 million. All the incidents occurred under the same circumstances: the fires broke out when students were out of their dormitories, raising fears of arson by an inside person. A special team was set to investigate the fires and its findings led to the arrest of the six teenagers, who subsequently confessed to detectives fires.
