, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 7 – “Person number 11 also tried to escape but he was caught by the Nandis and then they cut him up and put him in a sack before calling us to go pick up our corpse.”
These were the chilling words that the seventh witness narrated to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday as he recollected events that occurred in Yamumbi area after former President Mwai Kibaki was sworn in for his second term.
Prosecution lawyer: What happened when they caught him?
Witness: They cut number 11 up and put him in a sack.
Prosecution lawyer: What happened after that?
Witness: They called us to go pick our body.
Prosecution lawyer: What was ethnicity of number 11?
Witness: He was Kikuyu.
Prosecution lawyer: Did number 11 die?
Witness: Number 11 did not die.
Witness P0423, testifying in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang, added that although number 11 survived the ordeal his mental capacities deteriorated.
He explained that the Nandis shouted at them to go collect the body because they were a safe distance away and that they only went to the scene after the attackers left the scene.
Prosecution lawyer: What was the condition of number 11?
Witness: He was still breathing and so we got him and took him to hospital.
Witness P0423 also told the court about number eight, number nine and number 10 and how they were mercilessly slashed and cut up into pieces by Nandis.
None of them survived their ordeal.
Events that led to the death of number nine were particularly distressing.
“Number nine had other people with him but the 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 witness’s narration of the bloody events left the image of a horror movie and he at one point explained how one of the victims was slashed until his intestines started spilling out.
By the time that person got to the hospital, it was too late.
“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,” said the witness.
The witness further explained that he remembered seeing scores of youths being ferried on about 10 lorries at night.
He further revealed that all the houses in Yamumbi area that belonged to the Kikuyu were razed to the ground.
According to the witness, Nandi youths took the galvanised roofing sheets that were not so badly damaged and later used them to build their own houses.
This witness told the court that he lost everything he possessed during the bloody conflict.
“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 officers were not left out of the narration with the witness saying that when Kikuyus went to seek help they were told that they were facing the consequences of supporting and voting for Kibaki.
He also maintained that his entire testimony on Thursday was based on what he had actually witnessed; not events that he heard from third parties.
The witness continues his testimony.