How Westgate attack plotters tried to cover up the heinous act

It was the second time that the Judge was pushing their date with fate as she was to deliver the ruling last month.

Nevertheless, court documents filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) through Principal Prosecution Counsel Duncan Ondimu gives insights of what transpired, including heroic actions by school children, who were caught up in the attack.

Ondimu told the court that Ahmed and Hassan had tried to delink themselves from the attackers by arguing that they could not have kept their mobile phones if they were part of the attackers.

However, he painted a picture of a well-planned plot that if all went as had been calculated, then no one would have been traced after the attack.

According to the State, the plan was to destroy all SIM cards used in the planning of the September 21, 2013 attack. The court heard that they were to be burnt alongside the vehicle that the attackers had used to get to the venue, a Mitsubishi KAS 575X.

The vehicle was acquired at a cost of Sh340,000. The buyers were one Hussein Abdi and the witness between Abdi and the seller was Mohamed Hussein. Security agencies traced the money to Barclays Bank Queensway branch.

In the meantime, the car also had a third-party insurance cover which was procured by one Abdulahi Surow. Inside the vehicle were shredded pieces of papers, Safaricom lines application form, and a grenade safety pin.

The attackers set the vehicle on fire from inside to distract the public and to destroy all evidence of their communications.

Unfortunately, when they shut the doors of the vehicle, it snuffed out oxygen in the car and the fire died.

This is the mistake they made. Kenya security agencies secured at least four sim card holders from the vehicle.

When the masterminds of the Westgate Shopping Mall terror attack were presented at Milimani Law Court. [File, Standard]

On the material day, there was an East FM ceremony at the mall in which children were attending. The court heard that one of the victims of the terror attack was a casual worker who had also attended the event.

He testified that he was shot on the leg, shoulder and was unable to talk. However, it was the children who helped him out and he was taken to hospital.

Another witness claimed that he heard one of the attackers shouting that their interest was not in children or women. After seven years of trial, Ahmed and Hassan were found guilty on October 7, 2020. The then Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi (now a High Court Judge) ruled that there was a link between the two and the attackers. He observed that they were smoked out from Eastleigh before attempting to flee from the capital.

"I find them guilty as charged and convict them accordingly for being conspirators to the terrorist act that left 67 people dead, hundreds injured and property destroyed," ruled Andayi

Adding that, "The frequency of their conversation with the attackers proves that they had a common intention to kill." Abdinur was the mastermind. The court observed that there was video evidence on his laptop which encouraged the Al-Shabaab to kill 'infidels' and action videos similar to what took place at Westgate. According to the magistrate, they intended to collude with the attackers to cause fear to members of the public, kill and destroy property.

"It is clear that there was mutual agreement between them and the actual attackers to carry out terrorism. The prosecution didn't have to prove their actual presence at the scene as the call data show the coordination they did from their hideout," ruled Andayi.

Andayi recreated the scene of the terror attack based on first-hand witness testimonies before analysing the investigator's report and arriving at the decision to punish the two.

Witnesses at the scene testified that at around 12.30pm on September 21, 2013, four attackers wearing black jackets, dark glasses and headscarves stormed the shopping mall and started shooting indiscriminately.

Those inside the mall thought it was a normal robbery and came out to check what was happening only to encounter terrorists shouting that they are Al-Shabaab and were on a mission to kill anyone they considered an infidel.

Police witnesses who arrived at the scene also stated they at first thought it was a robbery until they got into the mall and started exchanging fire.

A hunt ensued for the terrorists which took five days after the four attackers were killed inside the building.

After identifying the attackers and recovering mobile phones they were using, investigators started piecing together information which led them to the command centre in Eastleigh where Abdi is said to have been issuing instructions.

A few days after the incident, Abdi was arrested in Kitale after fleeing from Nairobi and found with a laptop that contained articles and videos on terrorism planning and execution.

Aggrieved, Abdi and Hassan filed an appeal before the High Court. They claimed that the charges were defective. They also claimed that the sentence was excessive.

On the other hand, Ondimu argued that the attack was meant to intimidate and cause fear among members of the public. The attack was Justice Nzioka will deliver her judgment on June 26, 2024.