Publication Date: 04/26/2006
A church official had allegedly been hired in 1999 to kill Catholic priest John Anthony Kaiser, a court heard.
But Mr Francis Kantai, of the Catholic Justice and Peace commission, revealed the alleged plot to the priest and informed him that he was to be given Sh100,000 to poison him.
A witness, Mr Stephen ole Naiguta, told the court in Nairobi yesterday that Fr Kaiser informed him of the murder plot after he heard about it from Mr Kantai.
Mr Naiguta said the priest wanted to know whether Mr Kantai could be trusted or whether he could carry on with the plan if he was given the money.
Big Fish
Fr Kaiser claimed that a "Big Fish" was after his life but he did not give any names, the witness told senior principal magistrate Maureen Odero.
The body of the Mill Hill missionary, who headed the Lolgorian parish of Ngong diocese, was found at the Morendat junction, on the Nakuru-Naivasha road, on August 24, 2000.
A team from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations, which joined their Kenyan counterparts on August 25, concluded that Fr Kaiser committed suicide. But church leaders and human rights lobbyists rejected the report, and demanded an inquest.
Yesterday Mr Naiguta, who is also a JPC official in Trans Mara District, told the court that the priest had insisted that his life was in danger. The hearing continues.
