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Uhuru home terror suspect ‘just wanted to greet Mama Ngina’


A man being detained by police on suspicion of being a terrorist had actually sought to visit the President’s mother, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, at her Gatundu home.

Media reports, including Nairobi News, had earlier claimed that the suspect, Said Mirre Siyad, had carried out surveillance at President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family in Gatundu, Kiambu county. This was based on what prosecutor Daniel Karuri had told a magistrate court in Nairobi.

But, a police report on the incident gives a different narrative. It states that Mr Siyad had approached a GSU constable deployed to guard Mama Ngina Kenyatta’s house in Gatundu and inquired on her whereabouts.

Other reports which we could not immediately verify said the man has been a patient at Mathari mental hospital hospital since last year.

DID NOT TRESPASS

During the incident, Mr Siyad did not trespass into the property but had stood at the gate.

“Reported by GSU Constable Robert Wachira that while manning the main gate to the home of her Excellence Mama Ngina Kenyatta at around 1330 hrs, he was approached by one Siad Mire Siyad who inquired on the whereabouts of Her Excellence Mama Ngina, ” the police report seen by Nairobi News stated.

“Constable Wachira later escorted the suspect to Gatundu CID office, where upon being interviewed, he alleged to have come to visit Mama Ngina,” the report adds.

Mr Siyad was interrogated at Gatundu CID office for an unspecified period and then escorted to the Anti Terrorism Police Unit headquarters for further investigation.

Prosecutor Daniel Karuri told the court that the incident happened on Tuesday.

The suspect will be detained at a police station in Nairobi for 15 days after police decided that the reasons he had given for “trespassing into the property could not be  substantiated.”

TERRORISM ATTACK

” The respondent is believed to have been sent to the presidential residence to carry out surveillance for a terrorism attack. Persuant to preliminary investigations, the suspect has other associates who are yet to be arrested,” argued Mr  Karuri.

“The anti-terrorism unit beleives the suspect is engaged in organised crime in and out of the country,” he added.