A Form 2 student was arraigned before a Kakamega magistrate yesterday and accused of killing his classmate in a brawl over a Sh600 debt.

The 14-year-old boy did not take a plea as police asked for more days to complete investigations.

The students are from Lugusi Boys Secondary School, Kakamega.

The suspect is reported to have stabbed Austin Dissi to whom he had sold a flash disk. Dissi was stabbed in the neck on Wednesday.

He died on the way to Malava Subcounty Hospital.

Investigating officer constable Hillary Kerich said he needs to ascertain whether the accused is mentally stable and can face murder charges.

Kerich is a detective attached to Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Kakamega North.

Court documents indicate the suspect sold the flash disk for Sh1,000 and that Dissi had only paid Sh400.

“I am yet to conduct age and psychiatric assessments as well as the postmortem. For these reasons, I seek that the suspect remain in police custody to aid in the investigation,” Kerich said.

The officer said he was yet to trace Dissi’s parents because their phones are unreachable.

The suspect admitted committing the offence but told Kakamega senior principal magistrate Thomas Muraguri that the knife belonged to Dissi.

“We were near the office of the principal and the deceased was armed with a knife. I grabbed it and used it to stab him,” the suspect said.

Muraguri directed that the suspect be remanded at Kabras police station awaiting the age and mental assessment reports. The case will be mentioned on October 25.

The two students engaged in an argument which ended in a fight in their classroom before a teacher asked them to go to the staffroom where they were to be punished.

The attacker is reported to have sneaked to the staffroom with a knife which he used to stab his colleague. Teachers administered first aid as they made arrangements to rush Dissi to hospital, some 10km away.

The matter was reported to police in Malava. The knife has been kept as exhibit.