By Andrew Wasike
NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The Kenyan High Court on Wednesday ordered the government to pay $3.4 million in compensation to the families of the victims of the 2015 Garissa University terror attack that claimed the lives of 148 people, most of them students.
The court ruled that the state failed to protect the students from the al-Shabaab-led attack, noting that intelligence services in Kenya had prior knowledge of a potential attack on the university but they failed to take adequate preventative measures.
Speaking to reporters, lawyer John Mwariri, who was representing the families of the 148 victims and those who were injured, said that the state was culpable for the deaths of innocent lives lost.
“The court went further and found out there was sufficient information and intelligence of the imminent Garissa attack, and it is on that basis that the court found that these victims of Garissa University ought to be paid, we are pleased with the damages that the court has awarded,” Mwariri said.
Rachael Gikonyo, a student at Garissa University back in 2015, now left to use a wheelchair, told Anadolu she was pleased with the settlement.
The compensation will be distributed to the families of the 148 students who tragically lost their lives, with each family receiving roughly $23,000.
On April 2, 2015, al-Shabaab gunmen stormed Garissa University College in Kenya, in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 148 people, most of whom were students, and left many others injured.