Rakai school fire: Police yet to arrest key suspect

Rakai. Police are yet to arrest the principal mastermind of the inferno at St Bernard’s SS, Mannya, in Rakai District, a week after lives of 11 students were taken in a devastating blaze.

Another 49 students sustained varying degree of burns. A senior detective investigating the case, who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said one of the students taken into custody after the fire incident, confessed to starting it at the instigation of an adult intruder.

The source declined to name or provide other information likely to help the public identify the key suspect on grounds that doing so would jeopardise ongoing inquiries. Detectives are hunting for the suspect, said the source, and the student who has revealed the information is likely to be turned into a prosecution witness.

Meanwhile, two out of the five students and a warden who were arrested on November 12 remain in custody at Mannya Police Station. The constitution provides that a suspect can be held in police detention for not more than 48 hours without production in court. Officials have given no explanation for the inordinate delay in arraigning the suspects in court or releasing them altogether. Three other students are being held incommunicado.

Mr Charles Mubiru, the Rakai Resident District Commissioner, who chairs the district security committee, said revealing the location will jeopardise ongoing investigation.
“Just know they [suspects] are in safe hands. When the court process starts, even those on police bond such as the head teacher and other staff members will be needed to testify,” he said.

However, it is unclear when investigations, which are largely handled by police detectives at the regional level at Masaka, will be concluded.
Mr Ronald Bogere, the criminal investigations officer for Southern region, declined to speak about the progress of the inquiries and referred this newspaper to Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima.

Mr Kayima said investigators were winding up their work and suspects would likely be charged in court before the end of this week.
“We have done enough investigations and [are] ready to present them [suspects] before court this week for the interest of justice and human rights,” he said.

Mr Kayima said they are aware about the constitutional threshold for holding suspects, but some cases are complex and detectives investigating them require more time to gather incriminating evidence.
“Like in this case [of St Bernard’s SS inferno], if people can sit down and plan mass murder, we need to be given ample time to investigate their crime,” Mr Kayima said.

Preliminary investigations
One of the detectives investigating the school inferno, who preferred anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media, intimated to this newspaper that one of the students in custody confirmed having started the fire together with an intruder that police are still hunting for.
“This boy offered us critical information and we are still gathering more from him. Our team is hunting for the said intruder and when investigations are complete, this boy will be among key witnesses,” the source said.

The key funders of the school, Cotton on Foundation of Austria, who have a liaison office at Bwala Hill, a Masaka town suburb, have since last week declined to speak about the inferno.

Despite the loss they suffered as a school, head teacher Henry Nsubuga said the donors will continue their support.
A top female official in the Foundation, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely on the incident, said that “what I know [is that] we are going to continue supporting the school”.

Eleven students who died in the night fire that consumed a dormitory were, following DNA identification in Kampala, buried at their ancestral homes in various districts in Masaka sub-region, Isingiro and Nakaseke districts last Friday.

According to survivors, unknown people sneaked into the school premises under the cover of darkness, locked the dormitory from outside with two padlocks, sprinkled petrol inside before setting the building housing 60 Senior Three students alight.

MOOD AT THE SCHOOL
Something ominous strikes one upon entering the premises of St Bernard’s SS, Mannya. The silence is curious for an in-session educational institution. The is no sight of students in animated conversations or pacing up the compound to catch classes.

Instead, detectives can be seen on the premises, picking possible exhibits and interviewing witnesses and suspects. They record every item they suspect of evidence value as well as narrations of the incident that has scarred and scared the local community.

Unlike last week where there was free entry at the school, access has now been restricted, especially to the burnt dormitory taped off as a scene of crime.
“We would like to talk to you the media people, and I had planned to issue a statement [on Monday], but [the] security team you see around has restricted us,” Mr Henry Nsubuga, head teacher, St Bernard’s SS, Mannya, said.

Reported by Ambrose Musasizi, Joseph Mugumya & Wilson Kutamba