Kenya: Al-Shabaab grenade attacker pleads guilty, sentenced to life

[News_Editor]

Kenya: Al-Shabaab grenade attacker pleads guilty, sentenced to life

2011-10-29 08:20:15 GMT+7 (ICT)

NAIROBI, KENYA (BNO NEWS) -- A Kenyan national was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to nine charges relating to a grenade attack in the Kenyan capital earlier this week, local media reported.

Senior Principal Magistrate Grace Macharia sentenced Elgiva Bwire Oliacha alias Mohamed Seif, 28, to life in prison for the Nairobi grenade attack that caused serious injury to Justus Makau Mulwa and Patrick Ndolo Kinyingi. He was also sentenced to a 15-year prison term for being a member of Al Shabaab and engaging in criminal activity.

Oliacha pleaded guilty on Wednesday and was sentenced only three days after his arrest. According to court documents, he converted to Islam from Christianity in 2005 and traveled to Somalia last year on his second attempt in order to receive battle training from the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab.

After returning to Kenya last August, Oliacha allegedly began recruiting other people in his area of residence in Kayole to join the terrorist group.

Magistrate Macharia said the offenses were "aimed at killing the victims," adding that the harsh sentence was "not only to serve the interest of the public but also to deter other offenders."

Oliacha has fourteen days to appeal the sentence, but he appeared with no remorse and little to no emotional expression. When asked by journalists about his sentence, he respond with: "I am just happy, a sad man is a remorseful man."

The grenade attack occurred on Monday on Race Course Road in Nairobi, just one day after the U.S. Embassy warned of an "imminent threat" of a terrorist attack. It also came just a week after Kenyan security forces crossed into Somalia in search of al-Shabaab fighters.

Two alleged accomplices, Omar Muchiri and Stephen Macharia, both Kenyans, were also charged on Friday for being al-Shabaab members. Both denied the charges as well as being accomplices of Oliacha.

All three were arrested on Tuesday during a police raid, which also resulted in the recovery of 13 hand grenades, four pistols, two sub-machine guns and 717 rounds of ammunition.

Al-Shabaab is the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts which took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006. Despite efforts from the Somali and Ethiopian governments, the group has continued its violent insurgency in southern and central Somalia.

Somalia has been without an effective government since Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown two decades ago.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-29