Ali Gichunge was one of the terrorist at the Dusit attack on Tuesday 15th who died mercilessly as he tried to kill innocent civilians.
The father to Ali Salim Gichunge, also known as Farouk, has come out to give his account about his slain son who unfortunately died for the wrong thing.
According to Mr. Ali Gichunge he had not had any contact with his son for four years and had no idea he had secretly joined al Shabaab.
Ali Gichunge, who is a KDF sergeant, told investigators that he had last in contact with his son in 2015 and was shocked to learn that he was among the six people who launched the Tuesday attack on the 14 Riverside Drive complex.
Farouk was born and bred in a strict Muslim family in Isiolo, he had great ambitions of becoming an engineer. He never missed his madrassa classes at his rural home in Isiolo.
His father hailed from Isiolo, his mother Salma Gichunge came from Majengo in Nyeri.
After he cleared high school at Isiolo Barracks High School in 2011 he went to stay with his grandparents in Nyeri’s Majengo slums.
After he separated with his wife Salma he said he continued to keep in touch with his son and supported him financially until 2015 when he lost contact.
“I could no longer find him on the phone and had no idea where he was,” said Gichunge
After failing to join university, Farouk stayed with his mother at their home in Isiolo where he did small jobs such as selling miraa in the estates.
Mr Gichunge described his son as a brilliant calm and collected person who brought joy and laughter to the family.
He suspects his son could have lost focus in life after he separated from the boy’s mother in 2010.
The father further told investigators that he was in shock to see images of his son circulating on social media during the DusitD2 hotel complex terror attack on Tuesday.
Nine people have so far been arrested following the attack and others who are on the run are been looked for by the detectives.