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St. Kizito massacre
Location

Coordinates	0°21′36″N 37°34′48″E / 0.3599°N 37.5800°E / 0.3599; 37.5800
Information
Established	1968
Closed	1991
Headmaster	James Laiboni
Age	14 to 18
Enrollment	577

St. Kizito was a coeducational boarding secondary school in Meru County, Kenya, named after Saint Kizito. It closed down in 1991, following a high-profile rape and massacre of girls at the school.

Background

The school was established as an all-boys school in 1968 and began admitting girls in 1975.

By 1991 the school had 577 students between the ages of 14 and 18 – 306 boys and 271 girls.

Mass rapes and murders

Events

On 13 July 1991, 71 girls were raped and 19 killed at St. Kizito school. After supposedly declining to participate in a strike organized by the boys at the school, the girls' dormitory was invaded by male students and the chaos began.

Response

Initial reports included a statement from the deputy principal, Joyce Kithira, who said "The boys never meant any harm against the girls. They just wanted to rape." Kithira was dismissed from her position for her "failure to maintain discipline" at the school but was almost immediately reinstated. School principal James Laiboni commented that rape was a common occurrence at the school. The view was echoed by Francis Machira Apollos, a local probation officer.

The school was closed immediately after the massacre as international outrage erupted on the treatment of women in Kenya and other African nations. 39 boys were arrested in connection with the incident.

References

Citations

^ Staff (15 July 1991). "Boys at Kenya School Rape Girls, Killing 19" Archived June 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters (via The New York Times). Retrieved 21 May 2016.
^ Perlez, Jane (1991-07-29). "Kenyans Do Some Soul-Searching After the Rape of 71 Schoolgirls (Published 1991)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
^ Hirsch, Susan F. (1994). "Interpreting Media Representations of a "Night of Madness": Law and Culture in the Construction of Rape Identities". Law & Social Inquiry. 19 (4): 1023–1056. doi:10.1111/j.1747-4469.1994.tb00947.x. ISSN 0897-6546. JSTOR 828890.
Youé, Chris (1997). "Review of Gender Violence and the Press: The St. Kizito Story". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 31 (3): 584–586. doi:10.2307/486204. ISSN 0008-3968. JSTOR 486204.

Bibliography

Kariuki, Wanjiru (2004). "Masculinity and Adolescent Male Violence: A Case of Three Secondary Schools in Kenya". Retrieved 14 November 2023. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Ngesa, Mildred (13 July 2005). "Kenya: 14 Years Later, Boys At the Heart of the St Kizito Tragedy Speak Out". Daily Nation. Retrieved 14 November 2023.

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