Girl Charged with Burning School, 19 Children Dead, After Phone Was Taken Away
A 15-year-old girl has been accused of setting fire in a school dormitory in Guyana that resulted in the deaths of 18 schoolmates and a five-year-old boy.
The teen was charged on Monday with 19 counts of murder. She will be tried as an adult, a court near the capital of Georgetown decided, per Associated Press.
Police claim the girl purposely set fire on May 21 to Mahdia Secondary School in retaliation after a school official confiscated her mobile phone.
She was not allowed to submit a plea on the charges; her next court appearance will be held on July 5. If she is found guilty, the teen could face a lifetime in prison.
Per local authorities, the school blaze began shortly before midnight. Dozens of children were injured in addition to the 19 deaths. One victim was flown to a hospital in New York for special treatment.
Police say all five doors in the burned building were locked with keys from inside, per AP.
The dormitory administrator is said to have bolted all the doors as a precaution to prevent the female students -- ranging in age from 12-18 -- from covertly leaving to socialize with adult males in a nearby mining town.
The admin, aka "dorm mom", fumbled the keys in panic as the fire ripped through the building, said National Security Advisor Gerald Gouveia.