Philip Muyanga
29 June 2009
Nairobi — Suspected Somali pirates did not look as if they were lost at sea, a magistrate's court was told on Monday.
A captain of the ship allegedly attacked by suspected pirates told the court that neither did the suspects seem to be looking for help.
Mr Wolfgang Schnid told the court that one of the crew on board a boat which the suspects were in was holding a rocket propelled grenade launcher.
The witness who was testifying before Mombasa chief magistrate Ms Catherine Mwangi in a case which seven suspected Somali piracy have been charged with piracy said they were of the view that the suspects were not looking for help.
Although he told the court that shots were fired by the suspects he could not say what they were aimed at.
He said that he received information from the duty officer that a motionless boat had been spotted two nautical miles away from the ship.
Captain Schnid said he alerted his crew when he noted the boat increased its speed towards the ship before getting closer.
"After some time we had first shots fired from the boat. We fired a flare to give a warning to the boat," said captain Schnid.
The witness said the boat stopped and turned away after they fired their second shot before notifying other ships around the vicinity.
He said upon requesting for help, a Spanish helicopter was dispatched and that it maintained high altitude while it fired several shots around the boat in order for it to stop although it never did.
"Afterwards two more helicopters arrived to relieve the Spanish helicopter which had to go for refueling," said Mr Schnid.
He said that all procedures were followed while firing the warning shots to the boat.
Upon being cross examined by defense counsel Mr Jared Magolo the witness said there was no damage to the ship.
He said the ship was not heading to the country neither was it carrying cargo belonging to a Kenyan.
The ship's nautical officer Mr Von Bebern said he did not see the suspected pirates neither can he identify them.
The accused persons are Musa Abdullahi Said,Mohamed Abdikadir Mohamed,Mohamed Isse Said,Mohamed Ahmed Yusuf,Khalif Yusuf Farah,Mohamed Abdi Khalif and Ahmed Warsame Jama.
It is alleged that on March 29 this year at about 12 noon upon the high seas of Indian Ocean, jointly being armed with five AK 47 rifles, an RPG, SAR80 rifle, two pistols, and a knife attacked a Germany Navy supply ship SPESSART.
In a previous mention of their case the accused threatened not to show up in court again saying that they did not have trust in the country's courts.
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