Man appears in court over death of British tourist

A Kenyan man has plead not guilty over the death of a UK tourist and the kidnapping of his wife.

Travel Insurance News - 19/09/2011

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A Kenyan man has pleaded not guilty in court to two charges related to the killing of a tourist from the UK and the kidnapping of his wife. The man, Ali Babitu Kololo, has denied the two charges that follow the abduction of Judith Tebbutt, 56, and the murder of her husband, David Tebbutt, who was 58.

The man has been charged with Mrs Tebbutt’s abduction, as well as robbery with violence. Mr Tebbutt was shot dead during the robbery at a remote resort in Kenya on 11 September.

It is thought that Somali pirates are holding Mrs Tebbutt. Another man from Kenya, Issa Sheck Saadi, was expected to appear in the court at another date.

Authorities are still not sure if the people thought by authorities to be holding Judith Tebbutt were involved in her kidnapping. Mr Kololo claims that the gang forced him at gunpoint to take them to the hotel.

The couple, from Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire, were attacked at their hotel, with Mrs Tebbutt reportedly having been transported initially to southern Somalia.

The area of Somalia to which Judith Tebbutt may have been taken is controlled largely al-Shabaab, an Islamist extremist group. British police travelled to Kenya in a bid to help located Mrs Tebbutt. According to the most recent reports, Mrs Tebbutt is being held at a pirate base called Haredhere, some 300kms north of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

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