Girl, 15, charged with starting Guyana school fire that killed 19 children
A 15-year-old girl has been charged with deliberately starting a fire that killed 18 of her fellow students and a five-year-old boy at a school in Guyana.
Investigators have alleged the teenager set the girls’ dormitory building alight late at night on May 21 in a fit of fury after her mobile phone was confiscated.
She has been charged as an adult, prosecutors said, with 19 counts of murder.
Firefighters bashed holes into the north-eastern wall of the secondary school dormitory in the town of Mahdia, around 125 miles south-west of the capital Georgetown, and were able to rescue around 20 of the students.
However, 14 children had died at the scene, with five dying later at the Mahdia District Hospital.
Poor weather the following day hampered efforts to fly some of the victims of the fire north to the capital to be treated in more sophisticated hospitals.
One of the critically injured victims has since been taken to New York for specialist treatment.
The national fire service described it as a ‘sad day for Guyana’, and Prime Minister Mark Phillips visited some of the injured children as they recovered in the local hospital.
A post on his official Facebook page said: ‘We ask that our prayers continue to be with these children, their families, and their communities.’
It later emerged that all five doors from the inside, with national security adviser Gerald Gouveia saying the dorm administrator wanted to prevent the girls from sneaking out to socialise with men in the town.
The 15-year-old girl appeared virtually at a hearing south of Georgetown earlier today, and was ordered to be held in custody pending further court proceedings.
The defendant was not allowed to plead to the charges and will make a second court appearance on July 5 when state and defence attorneys will indicate if they are ready to start a preliminary trial.
If found guilty, she could face life in prison.
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