Court told of security lapse at Garissa University before terror attack

Garissa, Kenya: There was a security lapse at Garissa University prior to the terror attack, a Nairobi court was told yesterday.

Two witnesses said they were attacked at dawn as they conducted prayers in a hall near the main gate.

Rispa Nyang'au and Everline Chepkemoi, the two survivors of the deadly attack, recounted how the attackers stormed the lecture hall where they were conducting prayers and attacked about 30 students.

Defence lawyer Steve Mogaka, during cross-examination, had sought to know from the witnesses the security situation at the campus on the fateful day.

They said there were no security personnel on campus on the fateful day.

The two said a group of Christian students who were praying at dawn were the first target of the attack on April 2, last year.

They were testifying in a case in which six suspects are charged with carrying out the attack in which 149 students were killed.

Mohamed Ali Abdikar, Hassan Aden Hassan, Sahal Diriye, Osman Abdi and Rashid Charles have all denied 162 counts of terrorism.

The two students have since been transferred to Moi University in Eldoret.

Yesterday, Ms Nyang'au, who escaped the attack by a whisker, said a tall man armed with a gun and whose face was covered stormed the lecture hall where they were praying and hurled an explosive.

Ms Chepkemoi, currently on crutches, said she was leading the morning prayers when the gunmen stormed the hall.

She said an attacker lobbed an explosive inside the hall and a spark hit her on the face and she fell on the floor.

"I heard the door opening, they were spraying us with bullets and shortly after, there was silence in the hall as most of my colleagues had fallen down," she testified.

Ms Chepkemoi said she played dead from 5.30am when the attack began to around 11am when rescuers arrived.

She recalled that she saw KDF soldiers and Red Cross personnel enter the hall at around 11am and as they were being rescued, more gunshots rent the air.

She said four students came out alive. The witnesses said they were rushed to Garissa General Hospital where she received first aid and was later airlifted to Kenyatta National Hospital.

The case, whose hearing continues today, is before Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo.