FBI agents fail to attend inquest of murdered priest

By Francis Njuguna
Independent Catholic News, published March 6, 2007

The inquest into the death of Fr John Kaiser, which was scheduled to re-open yesterday in Nairobi, did not take place, as three witnesses from the American FBI failed to appear.
The three senior FBI officers are: Tom Neer, a specialist in behavioral analysis; Dr Vincent Di Maio, a forensics specialist; and Bill Corbett, who has worked in counter terrorism.

When the inquest resumed briefly, Kenyan senior state counsel, Mungai Warui said the three officers had communicated early last month that they would be in Nairobi on 5 March, to testify at the inquest. But last week the FBI, sent a note saying that the would not be available to attend, due to "other unforeseeable assignments" the senior state counsel, explained to the principal magistrate, Maureen Odero. He said they would only be available in "mid March"".

Ms Odero said: "Mid March is a bit vague. We cannot keep on waiting for them as they keep putting up new dates. They need to be concrete as to when they can avail themselves for us, for we are running short of time and we cannot wait for ever".

She ordered the senior state counsel to communicate with the FBI and request the officers to appear on 19 March, when the inquest would resume.

Defence lawyer for the Catholic Church, the Mill Hill Order and the family of the late Kaiser, Mbuthi Gathenji, complained that the FBI seemed to be continually putting off coming to Nairobi to testify.

He said: "I'm not happy with the way, the FBI keeps on giving us new dates. They have failed to honour this court. We might be forced to seek for diplomatic powers of intervention to have them in Nairobi."

Mr Gathenji said the inquest would close immediately the FBI testifies.

Father Kaiser, a 67-year-old priest, worked in Kenya for 36 years. His advocacy for human rights led to his expulsion from the country in 1999, but the government revoked its decision after an outcry in the Kenyan media and appeals from the country's bishops.

On 23 August, 2000, Fr Kaiser was found shot dead at Morendat, 85 kilometers northwest of Nairobi. Newpaper reports said he had angered some members of the Moi government after testifying against two Cabinet ministers in an inquiry on tribal clashes.

The first police officers on the scene thought he had been murdered, but in 2001 the FBI ruled his death a suicide, and the Kenyan government agreed.

The Kenyan Bishops' Conference almost immediately dismissed the FBI results and questioned why it considered the information of only the government pathologist, not the three additional doctors it had sent to the scene to collect evidence. They said that, based on ballistics reports, suicide was a physical impossibility as the bullets had been fired from some distance behind him.
The bishops said that if Father Kaiser committed suicide he "involved himself in rather difficult contortions while in the process."

They said that, although a doctor's report said Father Kaiser had bloody finger marks inside his pants pockets, the FBI failed to explain how he got his hands into the pockets after allegedly blowing off his head. They also said no reasons were given as to why photographs taken from the crime scene were blurred, and no explanation was given as to why fingerprints were found on the priest's vehicle but not on the gun.

Moi lost the presidential election in December 2002, after 24 years in office. Several months later the Kenyan government ordered the inquest.

FBI risks being shut out of Kaiser inquest

Lucianne Limo

Nairobi

East African Standard, published March 5, 2007

An inquest into the death of Mill Hill Missionary Fr John Anthony Kaiser may close without the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) detectives giving evidence.

A Nairobi court has given the detectives from the United States spy agency until March 19 to appear before it and testify or risk being shut out.

The detectives were expected to take to the witness stand on Monday to defend their theory suggesting that the Catholic cleric committed suicide.

"An inquest, like all litigations, must come to a close. The court cannot wait indefinitely for these witnesses to come," Senior Principal Magistrate, Mrs Maureen Odero, warned.

The FBI agents expected to testify include the investigating officer, Mr William Corbett, behavioural analyst, Mr Thomas Neer and the chief medical examiner, Dr Vincent Di Maio.
State counsel, Mr James Mungai, told the magistrate that the detectives failed to attend the court due to another engagement elsewhere.

Lawyer Mbuthi Gathenji, for the Catholic Church, pleaded with the magistrate not to close the case until the FBI agents render their evidence.

Fr Kaiser was found dead at the Morendat junction on the Nakuru-Naivasha road on August 24, 2000.

Consequently, the FBI and CID were detailed to investigate the matter.

The Catholic Church has since rejected the FBI theory insisting that the missionary was killed.

Kaiser inquiry: Sunkuli laments

Kaiser inquiry: Sunkuli laments
Story by FRANCIS THOYA
Publication Date: 2/22/2007
Daily Nation

Former minister of State Julius Sunkuli took the dock yesterday denying killing Mill Hill missionary John Kaiser, seven years ago.

Testifying in an inquest, the former minister said allegations that he had a motive to kill Father Kaiser were untrue, adding that such a story was mooted with a sole purpose of damaging his reputation and ruining him politically.

“Although we had differences with Fr Kaiser, I had no reason to kill him,” Mr Sunkuli told principal magistrate Maureen Odero.

In a private prosecution, the Catholic Church has insisted that Mr Sunkuli plotted to kill Fr Kaiser. The church says the differences related to the minister’s acts of sexual molestation against school girls in Kilgoris and his involvement in the tribal clashes in Trans Mara.

Sexual scandal

Yesterday, Mr Sunkuli said the Fr Kaiser and the Federation of Women Lawyers’ (FIDA) push to implicate him with sexual scandal was aimed at extorting money.

“I believe the sexual abuse allegations were heaped up on me by Fr Kaiser and Fida with a view to extort me,” Mr Sunkuli said.

Mr Sunkuli made the remark in an inquest in which the court is inquiring into the circumstance leading to the death of the missionary.

The missionary’s remains were discovered at the Morindet junction in Naivasha on August 23, 2000.

Mr Mbuthi Gathenji, representing the church, said Fr Kaiser was killed at the height of growing differences over Mr Sunkuli’s involvement in sexual molestation allegations that involved two girls.

The former minister for State said the sexual molestation that faced him in 1999 and 2000 were a scheme of his political opponents, who were ought to ruin his chance of being appointed the vice-president then.

“There was a lot of information that President Moi wanted to appoint me to the position of the vice-president then. I think my political opponents wanted to use the allegations to tarnish my name and ruin my chance,” Mr Sunkuli claimed.

Financial support

Education minister George Saitoti and his Immigration colleague Gideon Konchella and Narok North MP William ole Ntimama are alleged to have offered financial support to a women’s group in Trans Mara to demonstrate in Nairobi against the former minister.

Mr Sunkili said he complained to Ngong Bishop Collin David over Fr Kaiser’s activities that were affecting him but the prelate informed him that the priest was a difficult man to deal with. The hearing continues.

FBI Betraying Fr. Kaiser ... Again

By Stefan Lovgren

On the morning of August 24, 2000, an American Catholic priest, John Kaiser, was found dead at a Kenyan roadside, killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Suspicion quickly fell on the Kenyan government. During the 36 years he spent in the East African nation, Father Kaiser, a Minnesota native and former U.S. Army paratrooper, had earned a reputation as a tireless champion of the poor and a bold critic of corruption among the country's power elite. He had recently accused the powerful minister for internal security, Julius Sunkuli, of systematically raping young schoolgirls over several years.

A U.S. congressional resolution called Kaiser's death an "assassination." To appear transparent in its handling of the case, the Kenyan government enlisted the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was the first time the FBI had been dispatched abroad to investigate the death of a single U.S. citizen. After a seven-month-long probe, in which 145 witnesses were interviewed, the FBI concluded in an 80-page final report that Kaiser had killed himself.

The church was outraged, dismissing the investigation as a mere cover-up. (It's also worth nothing that, according to Catholic doctrine, committing suicide constitutes the gravest of sins.) The Kenyan public, well-aware of its government's sordid history of covering up political murders -- even of clergy members -- was similarly incensed. Early whispers of suicide from top officials had been dismissed by Kenyans remembering the unresolved 1990 murder of Robert Ouko, the Kenyan foreign minister and corruption whistle-blower. Initial police reports then absurdly suggested suicide, even though Ouko's body had been tortured and shot twice before being dropped from a helicopter and set on fire.

Detectives from Scotland Yard were brought in to investigate Ouko's death, but their efforts were blocked at every turn and the inquiry did not even produce a final report. With the Kaiser investigation, there is reason to believe that the Kenyan police led the FBI down a path toward suicide. Witnesses were coached by Kenyan police before being interviewed by U.S. agents. FBI investigators were encouraged to focus on leads highlighting Kaiser's erratic behavior in the 96 hours prior to his death, while ignoring forensic evidence and expert opinions rendering suicide impossible. In the end, it appears from its report that the FBI built its forensic case solely around the testimony of a Texas medical examiner who reached his conclusion of suicide by looking at three dozen blurry photographs, some of which had been taken at a crime scene that had been severely compromised.

Did the world's pre-eminent law enforcement agency kowtow to the will of the Kenyan government? If so, why? The explanation may be floating in the murky waters of geopolitics. Kenya is considered a haven of stability in a part of the world that includes basket cases like Sudan and Somalia. It has been an important U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. The FBI cultivated a strong relationship with Kenyan police during the investigation of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. The late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, who championed the Kaiser case, said he had evidence there was pressure from the U.S. State Department on the FBI to go easy on the Kenyans. Kaiser may have been sacrificed to keep diplomatic relations smooth.

But in 2002, Kenya's ruling KANU party lost the national election. The new government soon announced a public inquest into the death of Father Kaiser. This inquest began more than three years ago and is still continuing in a Nairobi court. Witnesses once afraid to share information have stepped forward. Their testimony has helped piece together a different picture of what may have happened to Kaiser that fateful night. A security guard says he saw two men following Kaiser and pulling him out of his car before killing him.

Yet one witness has been conspicuously absent at the inquest: the FBI. The bureau has so far ignored requests by the court to testify. It considers the conclusion of its final report just that -- final. But only the FBI can shed light on some key evidence in the case. It still has in its possession crucial exhibits. No ballistics information has been made available. Experts who reportedly carried out such analysis have not been identified, nor have their statements been taken. The FBI should also be able to explain why some key witness testimonies given to its agents never made it into the official file.

It is troubling that Father Kaiser's killers may never be brought to justice -- indeed who killed him may never be known -- but the tragedy is compounded by the arrogance shown by the FBI in ignoring requests to appear at the ongoing inquest. The findings in itsreport may never change, but the FBI has a responsibility to at least explain how it arrived at its conclusion. Father Kaiser's legacy of truth and justice deserves no less.

Government transfers magistrates in surprise shake up

Government transfers magistrates in surprise shake-up

From the East African Standard

January 16, 2007

By Judy Ogutu

The Government has transferred several magistrates.

Seven among them were serving in various courts in Nairobi.

Sources at the Judiciary told The Standard that those moved include Senior Principal Magistrate, Mrs Julie Oseko, who was in the limelight last month for sentencing to death three robbers.

The three, Mr Richard Kayago Maeta, Mr Elias Sikuku and Mr Peter Wafula Mulati had attacked Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o and his wife Njeeri three years ago at Norfolk apartments in Nairobi.

Sources said Oseko had been moved to Molo.

Senior Principal Magistrate, Mrs Margaret Wachira, who is handling the abuse of office case involving suspended Central Bank of Kenya governor, Dr Andrew Mulei, is also said to have been transferred.

Sources said Wachira was moved to Makadara Law Courts.

Mrs Maureen Odero, who is presiding over the inquest into the death of Catholic priest, Fr John Kaiser, is reported to have moved to the Milimani Commercial Courts. She sat at the Nairobi Children’s Court.

But speaking to The Standard on phone, Judiciary spokesman, Mr Dola Indidis, could not confirm the transfers. Others reportedly moved were Makadara acting chief magistrate, Mrs Grace Nzioka, Kibera Senior Principal Magistrate, Mrs Catherine Mwangi, Nyeri Chief Magistrate, Mrs Reuben Nyakundi, among others.

Bishop warned over remark

The Daily Nation

Published September 2, 2006

Nairobi

A clergyman has been warned against commenting on on the death of Catholic priest John Antony Kaiser, which is the subject of an inquiry.

Senior principal magistrate Maureen Odero, who is presiding over the team investigating the death, said Kenya Episcopal Conference chairman Archbishop John Njue had "no right to use the pulpit to make populist and unsubstantiated claims about the subject of the inquiry".

"While he is entitled to his own opinion and views, he is treading on a very thin line," said Ms Odero.

She said if he had any information relevant to the proceedings, he should share it with the inquiry.

She said the court did not wish to engage in sideshows and "warns Archbishop Njue and like-minded individuals to immediately desist from making any comments touching on the subject of the inquiry".

The magistrate said the court should be allowed to make its own conclusions based on evidence adduced.

She was making a ruling on an application made by a lawyer representing former Cabinet minister Julius Sunkuli, who wanted the cleric charged for contempt of court.

Archbishop Njue was speaking at a Mass to mark Fr Kaiser's anniversary. He said Fr Kaiser fought for the rights of the needy, including land clashes victims.

Other clerics who spoke at the function said they would not rest until the killers of the Mill Hill missionary were arrested.

Yesterday, a DNA specialist, Dr Solomon Mboke, told the inquiry that he carried out tests on a piece of bone believed to have been part of the late priest's skull.

The bone was found by Naivasha Catholic parish workers on September 19, 2000, as they cleared the Morendant junction site on the Nakuru-Naivasha highway for the priest's first memorial service.

The witness said from the tests, there was a likelihood that it belonged to the priest.

Fr Kaiser's body was found on August 24, 2000, near the junction on the Nakuru-Naivasha highway, with his head blown off and a shotgun by his side.

The inquiry will resume on November 1.