Post by Onyango Oloo on Dec 15, 2006 18:39:45 GMT 3
Press Statement
by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Njeeri wa Ngugi, Nairobi, December 15, 2006
We are pleased that the court has found three of the four armed gunmen who attacked us on August 11 2004 accountable and convicted them. The attack and the two year trial have seriously disrupted our family and professional lives not to say the toll it has taken on our finances and inner lives. We would like to thank all Kenyans who steadfastly stood by us and have expressed their solidarity. We also thank chief Police Detective George Kinoti who despite an attempt on his life continued steadfast in his investigations, which led to the successful conviction of those three. Prosecutor Kamlus Odhiambo put up a very strong case. My wife is particularly grateful to FIDA for their support throughout the ordeal. The Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, has always been supportive. The CID has provided us excellent security for the duration of the trial.
We are pleased that the magistrate, Julia Oseko, came out very strongly against conditions that prevent victims of rape, women mostly, from coming out. However, and with all due respect to the court, we feel strongly that the Magistrate went beyond the call of duty when, in an astonishing conclusion to her eight hour judgement, she stated categorically that in her view this was a simple case of robbery and that it never involved forces beyond the convicted three. We beg to differ. We are still concerned that the fourth gunman has never been apprehended. He out there, somewhere. We have always been struck by the fact that the four gunmen were not masked; that they left the lights on; that they never ransacked any of the boxes we had; that they went about their business as if they had nothing to fear; and that even after it was quite clear that we had no more money to give, they just hung around, as if awaiting orders for the next act. There was the question of the red car that I had seen on the premises earlier at 7:30 and which later, after the attack, my wife saw leaving the premises. We are still convinced that had we not fought back and disrupted their plan, plus of course divine intervention; we would have been disappeared for ever, with those who engineered the attack probably becoming chief mourners at our graves. As long as the fourth gunman is out there we can never feel safe. The court's astonishing ruling and opinion may well have given, however unintentionally, comfort to those forces that had orchestrated the attack. It amounted to an unfounded exoneration of all forces connected with the attack.
We hope that the police will continue their investigations to bring any others involved to book.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Njeeri wa Ngugi
by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Njeeri wa Ngugi, Nairobi, December 15, 2006
We are pleased that the court has found three of the four armed gunmen who attacked us on August 11 2004 accountable and convicted them. The attack and the two year trial have seriously disrupted our family and professional lives not to say the toll it has taken on our finances and inner lives. We would like to thank all Kenyans who steadfastly stood by us and have expressed their solidarity. We also thank chief Police Detective George Kinoti who despite an attempt on his life continued steadfast in his investigations, which led to the successful conviction of those three. Prosecutor Kamlus Odhiambo put up a very strong case. My wife is particularly grateful to FIDA for their support throughout the ordeal. The Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, has always been supportive. The CID has provided us excellent security for the duration of the trial.
We are pleased that the magistrate, Julia Oseko, came out very strongly against conditions that prevent victims of rape, women mostly, from coming out. However, and with all due respect to the court, we feel strongly that the Magistrate went beyond the call of duty when, in an astonishing conclusion to her eight hour judgement, she stated categorically that in her view this was a simple case of robbery and that it never involved forces beyond the convicted three. We beg to differ. We are still concerned that the fourth gunman has never been apprehended. He out there, somewhere. We have always been struck by the fact that the four gunmen were not masked; that they left the lights on; that they never ransacked any of the boxes we had; that they went about their business as if they had nothing to fear; and that even after it was quite clear that we had no more money to give, they just hung around, as if awaiting orders for the next act. There was the question of the red car that I had seen on the premises earlier at 7:30 and which later, after the attack, my wife saw leaving the premises. We are still convinced that had we not fought back and disrupted their plan, plus of course divine intervention; we would have been disappeared for ever, with those who engineered the attack probably becoming chief mourners at our graves. As long as the fourth gunman is out there we can never feel safe. The court's astonishing ruling and opinion may well have given, however unintentionally, comfort to those forces that had orchestrated the attack. It amounted to an unfounded exoneration of all forces connected with the attack.
We hope that the police will continue their investigations to bring any others involved to book.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Njeeri wa Ngugi
