By Joackim Bwana
Mombasa, KENYA: A witness told the inquest into the killing of radical Islamist Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohamed that his killers were of Middle Eastern origin.
Yesterday, she told the inquest which resumed in Mombasa after several months’ lull, that she was travelling towards Mombasa from Mtwapa in a Nissan Matatu behind Rogo who was driving his family in a Nissan van on August 27 2012.
The witness said she saw a Subaru car overtake both vehicles and leveled with Rogo’s car, which swerved to avoid a collision.
Beatrice Nerima who is a trader in Mtwapa claimed that in a split of a second, a “youth in his 20s who was Arab or Jewish in appearance” leaned out of the speeding Subaru with a pistol in hand and opened fire at Rogo’s van.
According to Nerima, Rogo’s van swerved towards a ditch as one of the men in the Subaru pumped more bullets into his car. “The person shooting from the Subaru was a presumably an Arab or Israel and his head stuck out of the window while shooting,” said Nerima. She said that after firing several rounds and ensuring the target was dead, the killer sped off towards Mombasa.
The second witness, Bamburi Police Station OCS at the time Erustus Gitare said he was informed by his inspector that there had been a shoot-out along Malindi-Mombasa road.
He said that accompanied by his officers, they went to the scene where they found a vehicle KAJ 573 Toyota Lux and the driver whom they later identified as Rogo lying with his head resting on the steer wheel.
