A standard seven pupil from Kenyenya district was yesterday charged with arson. He denied setting St Don Bosco Boarding Primary School dormitory on fire on July 26.

Property worth Sh3 million was destroyed. He denied the charges before principal magistrate Daniel Ogolla. Ogolla ordered that his parents stand a surety for him and a bond of Sh100,000, failure to which the boy would be remanded at Manga Children's Hometo await the mention and hearing of the case. The pupil was arrested after he allegedly used nets to torch the dormitory to evade sitting for exams in ongoing continuous assessment tests.

Four of his colleagues who were arrested may be used as witnesses. The school headteacher Gilbert Mauti said pupils had woken up for their morning studies when the fire broke out. "The pupils were in class when they noticed smoke emanating from the dormitory," said Mauti. The razed dormitory hosts 106 pupils but nobody was injured during the incident.