Two Kenyan men are due in court in connection with the murder of a British tourist and the abduction of his wife from a remote resort.
Ali Babitu Kololo and Issa Sheck Saadi are charged with killing David Tebbutt, 58, and abducting his wife, 56-year-old Judith, from Lamu island. Mrs Tebbutt, from Hertfordshire, was taken away in a speedboat eight days ago and is said to be held in Somalia at a pirate base.
It is not clear if the people now holding her are the same as those who kidnapped her. Kololo, who used to work on Lamu island, the resort where the Tebbutts were staying, says he was forced at gunpoint to lead the gang to the hotel and was not a willing accomplice.
The court case may shed some light on the attack itself but it is unlikely to help in the effort to secure Mrs Tebbutt’s release, the BBC reported. Latest reports indicate she is being held near Haredhere, a pirate base almost 200 miles from the Somali capital of Mogadishu – the same area where UK couple Paul and Rachel Chandler were held hostage for more than a year.
Meanwhile, there has been a warning that if it is believed more attacks on tourists in Kenya are possible some remote resorts will have to close.
Nigel Vere Nicholl, managing director of the African Travel and Tourism Association, told the travel section of The Sunday Times that the attack on the Tebbutts was the first time ‘pirates’ have ventured on land to target tourists.
“This has never happened in the past, but tour operators have a duty of care not to take people to places that are now deemed to be at risk If proper assessments find some lodges and resorts to be too vulnerable, we will have to stop using them,” he said.