It is said that justice delayed is justice denied, but there is no more delay in judging father and son who opened their home to the mastermind of the 1998 bomb attack in Nairobi that reduced the US Embassy to a pile of rubble.
The 59-year-old together with his son were accused of knowingly harboring the terrorist who was killed in Somalia. How did they authorities know? DNA samples collected from the electric shaver in their home matched to that of the terrorist, as a result the Chief Magistrate Evans Makori found Mahfudh Ashur Hemed and his son Ibrahim Mahfudh Ashur guilty of four counts. However, they argued that the men were first time offenders and were remorseful for what happened.
The name behind the 1998 bomb attack is Fazul Mohamed and the Kikambala Paradise Hotel attack of 2002. Chief Magistrate Evans Makori found Mahfudh Ashur Hemed and his son Ibrahim Mahfudh Ashur guilty of four counts.
They include aiding and harboring Fazul at their home in Malindi, being accessories to murder following the death of 219 people in the 1998 Nairobi bombing and 15 during the Kikambala attack.
“Count 1, which is being accessories to murder, the accused persons should be sentenced for life. Count 2, which is harboring a terrorist, they should also be jailed for life,” ruled Makori. The report also indicated they were also found guilty of stealing a Kenyan passport belonging to Ali Mohammed Abubakar and were fined KSh 10,000 or six months in prison.
The magistrate said the case against the duo was proven beyond doubt that they two knowingly aided a terrorist as one of the items that was recovered during a police raid belonged to him. Among the items recovered was an electric shaver, which was established belonged to Fazul after a DNA test which matched those retrieved from his body after he was killed in Somalia. The prosecution asked the court to prescribe maximum sentences against the two individuals following the evidence.
However, the lawyers representing the accused, Richard Magolo, argued that the two were first time offenders and that they were remorseful for what happened. The lawyer also noted Hemed’s wife, who was also part of the trial, died during the process and the 59-year-old man is now a widower left to take care of two young daughters.
“The sentencing should not be a revenge, but should be a process of rehabilitation. The accused person has already suffered enough in the 11 years of trial. He should be granted non-custodial judgment to allow him look after the two young girls,” said Magolo. Khamis Mwadzogo, the lawyer appearing for Ibrahim, said the second accused person is a young man with a young family and just like his father, has been attending all the court processes.