‘I escaped Westgate Mall ordeal by sheer luck’

By Benard Sanga

Ms Nabeela Mohamed and her relatives would be telling a different story had a twist of fate not turned her away following the Westgate Mall.

Nabeela suddenly changed plans not to travel to Nairobi from Mombasa for her cousin’s birthday party, a ritual she had never missed for years until the time she recently landed a job in Mombasa.

She informed the host family that she would not attend the party on Saturday at Java Coffee Shop at Westgate Mall but they were adamant that she should. This made her promise she would attend and even started making travel plans. She would travel with Coast Bus on Friday morning.

But she again changed her mind against the journey.

Seek permission

Why? She thought travelling to Nairobi would interfere with her work and as she was newly employed that, she thought, that would not have gone down well with her boss. 

“I had told him I would travel on Friday night because the party was for Saturday at Westgate Mall. I’ve actually never missed my cousin’s birthday because we are very close. But this year, I thought because I had just secured employment, I thought it would not be prudent to seek permission,” said Nabeela in an interview at our Mombasa office.

That decision saved her life. Her cousin’s 27th birthday party turned out to be a nightmare for all in the family after he (her cousin) was held hostage in the mall for days.

But after a day her cousin had been rescued from the boot of a car at Westgate,” she said. She says he has not uttered a word since his rescue.