Elderly women who hosted Mombasa station attacker fit for trial, medical report shows

Two of the three women accused of hosting one of the female terrorists who attacked the Central Police Station in Mombasa on September 11 are fit to stand trial, a doctor’s report has said.

The medical report produced in court in Shanzu, Mombasa, by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) showed that Naema Mohammed Ahmed and Shukri Ali Haji are of sound mind and can take plea.

State Counsel Eugene Wangila said based on the medical report, the two suspects have the capacity to effectively communicate.

However, Mr Wangila asked the court to defer any criminal proceedings against the third suspect, Saida Ali Haji, after the doctor recommended that she be taken for medical review before she can stand trial.

“According to the doctor’s opinion, the suspect needs further medical review and her eligibility to stand trial was deferred [for that reason],” he told the court on Wednesday afternoon.

“She should be produced in court after one month so that it can decided on the course of action to take depending on the medical report,” he added.

THIRD SUSPECT'S MEDICAL REVIEW

Mr Wangila said that Ms Saida’s capacity to communicate by speech or in sign language is yet be established.

Mombasa Resident Magistrate Emmanuel Mutunga directed that the suspect be produced in court after the 30 days requested for the medical review.

The case against the suspects has been met with many challenges since they were first brought to court.

Only Ms Ahmed could effectively communicate in the Somali language with the help of an interpreter while Ms Saida was perceived to be ‘‘somehow’’ deaf but understood the language.

The suspects were taken to the Coast Provincial General Hospital for mental assessment after the court was told that Ms Saida and Ms Shukri could not communicate effectively even through Somali-Swahili interpreter and a sign language interpreter.

The magistrate, however, granted the police 20 days to complete investigating the suspects in relation to the offence.

20 DAYS IN CUSTODY

Police had requested to be allowed to hold the suspects for 30 days but Mr Mutunga noted that they had already stayed in custody for 10 days.

“I have considered the application by the State, seriousness of the offence and the suspects’ response. Police are granted 20 days to finalise their investigations,” the magistrate said.

Mr Wangila had told the court that the three women are connected to the offence or have information that may assist in the investigations.

“It is highly believed that the suspects are closely linked to Tasmin Yakub Abdullahi and her accomplices who were killed as they attempted to attack the police station” he said.

He said the elderly women had been living with the terrorists and it had been challenging to ascertain their identities because they are refugees.

The State counsel urged the court to consider the fact that the suspects are refugees and had been living outside the area designated for refugees.

PROBE SOMALIA LINKS

He also said that police needed time to establish how the suspects entered the country, their links with Somalia and whether the foiled attack on the police station had been coordinated from Somalia.

“We need more days to know exactly who were behind the attacks that almost destabilised activities in the county. The suspects under investigations are highly believed to have that information,” he said.

The suspects’ lawyer, Jackson Muchiri, contested the request by the police, urging the court to only grant them a week to finalise investigations.

He also told the court that the suspects’ relatives have asked to access the house, which had been marked as a crime scene, for the purposes of cleaning it.

“There are food stuffs including fish and meat that was left in the house and are causing disturbance to the neighbours due to the foul smell from the house,” he said.

The women were arrested on September 11, 2016 at their residence after it was established that they had hosted the terrorists.

Police said the suspects rented the house for hosting Al-Shabaab and ISIS operatives in Mombasa.

The case will be mentioned on October 18 and November 1, 2016.