Witness Three tells court ODM youths looted, burnt property
The ICC. The third prosecution witness said the looting and destruction started soon after the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) declared President Kibaki the winner of the disputed 2007 presidential elections. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Presenting her testimony-in-chief, the witness said Luo and Luhya youths looted while their Kalenjin collaborators, who had been ferried in lorries, burnt down houses of perceived PNU supporters.
The third prosecution witness in the trial of Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang Monday told the International Criminal Court that ODM supporters looted and destroyed property belonging to Kikuyus in Eldoret.
Presenting her testimony-in-chief, the witness said Luo and Luhya youths looted while their Kalenjin collaborators, who had been ferried in lorries, burnt down houses of perceived PNU supporters.
Described as a crime-based witness from Kimumu area, she said the youths broke into shops and houses and looted and burnt them.
“The ODM supporters were destroying other people’s property including houses, shops and posho mills,” she said.
“They would break into posho mills and grind stones to damage them,” she narrated.
She said the looting and destruction started soon after the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) declared President Kibaki the winner of the disputed 2007 presidential elections.
Most of the looting and burning, she said, occurred in the evening after the results were announced though there were sporadic attacks in the day.
The witness, who was being led in her testimony, by trial lawyer Lucio Garcia said the “people in lorries were painted white on their faces and heads. They had bows and arrows.”
She said she could tell their ethnicity by their accent and dress. The lorries, she said came from Marura on the Iten highway.
“When the lorries stopped, the Kalenjin youths got off and headed in the direction of a nearby junction.
They were young, about 18 years,” she said. The lorries, she said, could have carried up to 100 youths.
The violence, she said, continued on December 31 when Kalenjin youths coming from the direction of Beta farm attacked Munyaka village.
From her hiding place in the house of a person who has been assigned the pseudonym “Person 6”, the witness narrated that she heard Kikuyus shouting: “They are coming” to signify that the Kalenjin attackers had been spotted heading towards Kikuyu villages.
She said the Kikuyus, who numbered about 50 and were armed with clubs and machetes, took off towards Munyaka. “The Kalenjin youths followed them,” she said.
She said the pursuers retreated when the Kikuyus reached the boundary separating the communities.
As they retreated, the attackers headed to the home the witness claims she was hiding in, which she said was the first home from Munyaka to Beta farm.
“At first they could not get in because ‘Person 6’ persuaded them not to break down the steel gate,” she said.
Several parts of her testimony were presented in private sessions to protect her identity, according to presiding judge Chile Eboe-Osuji.
The witness continues her testimony today when the prosecution is expected to wrap up the examination-in-chief.
Mr Ruto’s defence will then cross-examine the witness with Shyamala Alagendra taking on that task.
Thereafter, the defence for Mr Sang will cross-examine her before the prosecution re-examines her and she is allowed to leave.
