The hearing of the Westgate Shopping Mall terror attack case kicked off
today, Wednesday, with two security guards being the first witnesses to
testify.
Four suspects, Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, Liban Abdullah Omar, Adan Dheq and
Hussein Hassan Mustafah have been put in the dock over the attack that
saw over 70 people killed in September last year.
Over 40 witnesses have been lined up to testify in the trial against the accused persons.
The hearing is before acting Chief Magistrate Daniel Ochenja.
One of the guards in his testimony said that he only saw the gunmen
after they had started the shoot out and so he could not identify them
because there was too much commotion at the time.
The second guard in his testimony confessed that he could not identify the gunmen as they had face masks.
The two witnesses narrated in the court how the attack took place on that fateful day of 21 st September 2013.
The prosecution has however made an application to amend the charges against the four suspects.
The hearing resumes tomorrow.
The attack at the mall left 61 civilians and six security officers dead.
Abdi, Mustafah and Omar were separately accused of knowingly supporting
Mohammed Abdinur Said, Hassan Dhohullow and others in committing the
terrorist act.
Dheq was further accused of harbouring terror suspects, obtaining
registration by false pretences and being in the country illegally.
