On Wednesday, the 4th of May 2022, a form three learner stabbed his classmate to death at Keben High School. The school is located in Belgut, Kericho County.
The two are said to have had a disagreement before it escalated. The learner who attacked the deceased is 23 years old while the deceased was ab 18-year-old female student.
Following this learning, the school was paralyzed with students staging a walkout in a protest calling for justice for their schoolmates.
Authorities immediately started searching for the suspect who had fled after committing the heinous act. Fortunately, the police caught up with the suspect who is now in police custody. Investigations are now being carried out by detectives.
The incident follows a string of cases of learner attacks on either fellow learners or teachers in 2021.
For instance, a Form Four learner from Uasin Gishu killed his Form three female lover and her one-year-old baby in 2021. This was following the attacker’s failed attempts in seducing the young woman.
Gender-based violence incidents have been increasingly reported among Kenyans and this has now caused a lot of concern.
Data from the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey reveals that around 41% of GBV cases that have been reported by women are caused by their intimate partners, husbands included.
This follows another incident in 2019 when Ivy Wangeci, a medical student at Moi University was harked to death for allegedly rejecting Naftaly Kinuthia’s request for intimacy.
Aside from gender-based violence, in 2021 a student was alleged to have attacked his school principal after the school administrator asked him to go and get his Kshs. 7,000 fees balance.According to the Police Commander, the school principal had directed school staff to take away the student’s locker until he cleared the balance of his fee. The Police are currently carrying out investigations on the issue.
The student then attacked his principal by surprise as he was on his way home from school, hurting him with a wooden weapon with nails.
Students who saw the heinous incident raised alarm and drew the attention of people nearby. The principal was then taken to the hospital.
According to preliminary reports, the boy had a history of threatening teachers. The student’s behaviour has been reported on several occasions.
A form 3 student at Kisii High School stabbed two teachers last year.
Mr Edwin Mokaya a teacher at Kisii High School had sought to understand why the student had come late to class. Mr Mokaya took him to the staffroom and asked the form 3 boy to kneel.
While in the staffroom, the form three student reportedly took a knife and stabbed Mr Mokaya in the back, on his forehead and on his legs.
The student also stabbed another teacher, Mr Elvis Maoto who tried to intervene before his staff mates managed to restrain the student.
The school staff then rushed the two teachers to RAM Hospital in Kisii town where they underwent treatment.
One of the teachers suffered deep cuts and is in critical condition according to RAM Hospital administrator Enock Abobo.
The other teacher, sustained minor injuries and was treated and was discharged later.