Abdifatah Ali, a witness in the case facing four Somalis accused of aiding in the Westgate terror attack, told Chief Magistrate Daniel Ochenja on Wednesday that one of the men believed to have carried out the shootings sought to marry in Kenya just two months prior. The witness told the court that, the would-be terrorist Abdi Noor, “pressed,” him to find him a young lady to marry right after they exchanged phone numbers.
“Noor kept on ringing me sometimes just for greetings then later he asked me to assist him get a lady to marry. He kept on pressing me to look for him a lady to marry,” Ali testified.
Ali later gave in to his demands and gave Noor, Zamzam’s phone number, one of his collage mates at Al-Imra college mates.
“I then sent Zamzam’s mobile phone number to Abdi Noor and also informed Zamzam of Mohamed Abdi Noor’s interest. I later learnt that they met at Zamzam’s home,” he added
However, this match making did not bear fruits as Zamzam was not interested in Noor’s proffered marriage proposal on grounds that they had not known each other for long and that she did not know his people.
“They chatted for about a week then he proposed to Zamzam but she turned him down because they had known each other for only a short time and she didn’t know his people,” 19-year-old Ali continued to testify.
Ali told the court that he first met Noor in the year 2010 when they were both class five pupils at the Gambella Primary School situated in the Kakuma refugee camp. A few months later, Noor left for Somalia in order to tend to his sick mother and where intelligence officers believe he became radicalized.
He however denied having any knowledge of Noor’s plans to attack the Westgate mall on September 21, 2013, adding that he hadn’t heard from him after his matchmaking efforts backfired.
