{UAH} POLICE ESCORTED KALENJIN KILLERS, SAYS ICC WITNESS | The Star

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-142762/police-escorted-kalenjin-killers-says-icc-witness

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POLICE ESCORTED KALENJIN KILLERS, SAYS ICC WITNESS

POLICE officers protected Kalenjin youths who were responsible for the attacks on Kikuyus in the Rift Valley, an ICC witness said yesterday.

The witness said that when Kikuyus went to seek help from the police, they were told that they were facing the consequences of voting for Kibaki.

Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's seventh witness yesterday said that police guarded lorries that were used to ferry cows that had been stolen from Kikuyu homesteads.

The witness, who was presenting his testimony for the second day, said that police watched as people were attacked and killed during the violence following the December 27 election.

He described how a Yamumbi resident was slashed as police officers watched.

"He was cut in the presence of policemen and taken away by a driver but he was in a very poor state. His intestines were falling out and by the time the driver got him to the hospital he had died. Police also watched as houses were burnt and looted," the witness said.

He said they were a safe distance away and the Nandis shouted at them to collect the body. They only went there after the attackers left the scene.

He recounted how people identified as number 8, number 9 and number 10 were mercilessly cut into pieces by Nandis.

"Number nine had other people with him but his clothes got stuck on a barbed wire as he was trying to flee into the Langas area. The attackers caught number 9 and cut the body into pieces. That person died instantly," explained the witness.

The Kalenjin youth were armed with machetes, bows and arrows, and sharpened sticks and were ferried in ten lorries to the area, according to the witness.

"At the time I did not know who the lorries belonged to. Later, I was told to the lorries belonged to some rich individuals. I heard that one of the rich people who was the proprietor of the lorries was Mr Maiyo," the witness said.

The witness said that Maiyo, who has since passed away, was close to Deputy President William Ruto and the two were were present at planning meetings.

"Maiyo lived at the top of one hill in Yamumbi and he was very rich. Every time there was a political meeting in the area he would be informed and he would attend," the witness said.

His testimony only touched on Ruto and he did not mention the co-accused Joshua Sang. Witness Seven will be cross-examined by Ruto's defence lawyers today.

He said that Administration Police officers attached to the local chief's camp guarded Maiyo's compound

He alleged that Maiyo's house housed the Kalenjin youths who attacked and burned houses in the area on December 30 and 31, 2007.

"The police also escorted the lorries which were carrying the cows that had been stolen. The cows were taken to Maiyo's home," the witness said.

The same police officers watched the burning of houses in Muiruti shopping centre without taking any action, he said.

The witness said that another person was killed in the presence of two policemen who had accompanied him to ward off attackers who had invaded his home.

"I think the police officers were Kalenjin because I had them speak Nandi and I understand the language. We would see police officers on a daily basis but this did not mean that violence was contained," the witness said.

The witness said that on the first night, the attackers burnt his house and about ten others. On the second day, the attackers returned and burnt down another estimated 300 houses.

"I was hiding but they could not see me. I hid there until they left. The whole house was on fire when I got back," the witness said.

According to the witness, Nandi youths took the galvanised roofing sheets that were not badly damaged.

"After the conflict I saw that some houses had been built using roofing sheets that had been taken away from the burnt down ruins. Some people had even tried to paint them but it was still visible," he said.

POLICE ESCORTED KALENJIN KILLERS, SAYS ICC WITNESS | The Star
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-142762/police-escorted-kalenjin-killers-says-icc-witness