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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Strange Twist In Journalist’s Murder

The very latest shocking information about the investigations of slain Reuters journalist Trent Keegan is that police have confirmed that Mr Keegan decided to walk to the city centre from Capital Centre on Mombasa Road.

He decided to walk after he complained that taxis were charging him too much. Interestingly it is said that the police got that information from a woman whom Mr Keegan had an intimate relationship with.

Investigators now suspect that Mr Keegan was ambushed near Railways, and hit with a blunt object on the head. He slumped to the ground and hit his forehead on the pavement.

The attackers are believed to have taken Mr Keegan’s mobile telephone and a laptop. But it is still a deep mystery why they never ransacked his pockets because his wallet, passport, credit card, cash driving license and shoes were all found intact, something very unusual in a mugging.

Apparently the police also believe that Mr Keegan re-gained consciousness and limped and staggered to the spot where his body was found. The head injuries had taken a heavy toll on him and he dropped dead, police now believe.

A watchman and a taxi driver are being held at the Central Police station in connection with the murder. Interestingly the police tracked them down through Mr Keegan’s stolen mobile phone. Many Kenyans still do not know that the police use mobile telephony technology to track down suspects.

Police arrested the watchman first because he was the first to use the stolen phone. He was of course using a different SIM card, an indication that the attackers had discarded Mr Keegan’s SIM card in the false belief they were safe.

The watchman told detectives from Central police division, who are investigating the murder, that he had found the phone to be too expensive and he had re-sold it to a taxi driver. The watchman claimed the phone was sold to him by a stranger.

The taxi driver was also arrested and he in turn told the detectives that he had sold the phone to another person. Police established from Safaricom that the phone was still in use. However, it seems the third buyer got wind that police were looking and he has since gone underground.

Police are yet to unmask who attacked Mr Keegan and for what motive.

Meanwhile Mr Keegan’s family is seriously considering launching their own investigations into his mysterious death. The family has refused to accept the mugging theory.

The slain journalists’ sister Nikki told a newspaper in New Zealand over the weekend that there was no reason for the body to be where it was found because it was nowhere near the flat where he stayed and was in fact out of the way. He also still had his wallet, passport, credit cards, cash, driving license and shoes, which is very unusual for somebody who has been mugged.

She also revealed that Trent Keegan had been seen by a friend in a bar at about 9:30pm on the night he disappeared. He also phoned his girlfriend 10 minutes later.

The International Committee to Protect Journalists is now investigating the case.

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18 comments:

  1. Chris.

    This is a very moving report since it involves death but don't be surprised if no one sheds crocodile tears for someone they never met. Few people know or even care about this Keegan chap whom you seem to be obsessed with for some strange reason and all related conspiracy theories you float around.

    The fact is most of us care less about someone we have nothing in common, not nationality, race, profession or class. I just hope the issue will be solved quickly so that the blog can move on to real issues that affect our daily lives.

    M-Pesa

    Nbi Kenya

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  2. Chris

    Those police facts stated sound reasonable. Its impossible to rule out common thuggery as the cause just as it is impossible to rule out any associated conspiracy theory. Sadly our police force image is so dented/battered that even if they determine the true cause it will still be unbelievable due to lost integrity. Same as for many institutions.

    Its time for all these institutions to do everything in their capacity to restore dignity, trust and respect. And its going to be uphill all the way

    UrXlnc

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  3. What have you told us that is nothing extra-ordinary from what we know. The thing is that is any other murder and it will be investigated by the police and conclusions rising at this moment do not validate rumours that have been doing rounds here. That he was killed is one thing and secondly, you being privy to such information is another one, of which you have readily present it to police and boost their investigations.

    If you know why the man was killed, you can make a report to the police instead of keeping us waiting here for five days and thereafter giving us what police have just released in nairobi.

    What is the importance of the man's death, as compared to the tens killed, maimed by Mungiki.

    It could have been very important if you went ahead and told us that the man was working on a story that was about to bring down the government to qualify the elimination angle that this blog has held dear.

    On another argument, Trent, a white man walking in Nairobi alone at night exposes him to all the social vermins that roam the streets of nairobi and rightly makes him a robbery suspect. He was a journalist and should have known the dangers of wandering in nairobi at night.

    Finally, if the man was being targetted for murder, how did it occur that he spoke to a few people hours before his death?

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  4. mpesa, mpesa, mpesa-please stop being INSENSITIVE
    Go and start your own blog somwhere else where you can "care more" about real issues that affect our daily lives

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  5. Chris, you know you have a rotten motive on this story. It's not that you care about someone being murdered because if you did, you would have condemned the killings of innocent people burnt alive in a church in Eldoret and other killed in many other places.

    What you are trying to do is to canard the story and point the finger of blame to the government which is contrary to what the sister of the deceased (Nikii) told the New Zealand Herald.
    I believe this is the reason you regulated the comments so that people cannot publish the truth of this story. What you forget there are some very intelligent individuals out there who will verify the information you post here before they can believe it.

    If at all your motive on this story is to point the blame on the government then man you are doomed and many people will soon find out who really you are. You have taken Kenyans as fool many times before but this time it will turn against you.

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  6. Who was Keegan again? Chris, pliz stop ur obsession with this man! Frankly, nobody gives a hoot. Kumekucha thrives on issues of COMMON and not PERSONAL concerne.

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  7. It's because he is white that's why Chris is obsessed with this chap.
    He worships mzungus.

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  8. Chris is a coconut. A mzungu inside but black outside. Why do white life matters to you more than the black life? Uncle Tom!

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  9. Chris once told me how much controversy sells.

    Nicollo Machiavelli would have appreciated your irreversible decision to shamelessly prey on the obvious ignorance of most kenyans. And I don't blame you for that.Stoke the fires, brother.

    While on it, please write something about the biggest enemy of KENYAN children, the number one killer, Malaria. Lend your support to the war against the deadly HIV/AIDS. Write something about official corruption in government as well as how to round up marauding gangs in Nairobi and other cities.

    Or, just give us a dose of DOMO politics. The stupidity of DOMO politics is sickenng, but it is at least fresher than Keegan's death.. It is unfortunate that Keegan, like many other people, died a brutal death, but a time comes when people move,man.

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  10. What an anticlimax! Maybe the real reason for his death is because he discovered where the bodies of the missing youth were buried as well as those responsible?

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  11. Let the killers of all innocent people in kenya face charges- if Keegan was killed because of information that was not to see the light of day then let the murderers be caught- even if it was just a mugging gone bad - let the murderers be caught- people should not die senselessly-

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  12. Kenya, a home of pölitical murderous? JM, Bob Ouko, Pinto, Mbai, Tom Mboya, Argwings, Mckenzie, Bishop Muge, Fr.Kaiser.

    All these people were murdered by those who go to church every Sunday and claim they are Christians.

    Your tribe, race, age, profession, wealth will not help you.

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  13. Interesting post, and would you believe any analysis from Kenyan police? how many murders have been reported and resulted in a 'non relevant person' arrested i.e. watchman, house boy, shamba boy... whilst the guilty walk away scott free...
    incompetence and lack of empathy is the order of the day ....

    Ps. Dont know where some delusional people bring in ODM politics into the comments, Dad and mum must be on the gravy train for sure...

    Ken Thumbi

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  14. I would like to react to the comment that 'few people know or even care about this Keegan chap'. Trent was very well respected around the world and you will find the column inches on his tragic death are not just confined to these pages. One basic look at his website trentkeegan.com will show just how many both cared about and knew this gentle giant, who went to Kenya in good faith. Thousands are shocked, outraged and heartbroken that he will never return to tell the tales of his travels and the stories of the people - your people - that he wanted to highlight and represent and lost his life for.

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  15. Here Here, thankyou for saying that about our darling trent. Trent will never beforgotten from all over the world, if everyone just had a bit of trent in them the world would be a better place. I hope the low lifes that murdered trent live a slow & painful future then they can rot in hell!

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  16. "Here Here" Thank you for that, its comforting to finally here someone give Trent some praise, thats the least he deserves. If everybody had just a bit of trent in them the world would be a far better place. He was a very talented young man that had such a warm caring heart. I hope the low lifes that done this dreadful act to him live a slow painful life then they can rot in hell.

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  17. he went to a bar with his laptop at 9:30pm.. that's odd. why would he have taken his laptop? to do some work at a bar??

    i've been mugged in nairb at night, the first thing those muggers asked for was cash. cash is best. those muggers are actually quite humane, they take your cash, give you your sim card and a fare to catch a matatu home. it seems highly unusual that the muggers had to knock him down let alone kill him for pesa which they didn't even take. nup, i don't buy it.

    secondly, i'm sure muggers are aware mobile phones can be satellite tracked, actually the company i use to work for did the mobile phone tracking in the africa region.. even i know you have to burn the usim on the physical mobile phone so it can't be tracked.

    the fact a watchman had a hold of his mobile phone is odd.this girlfriend thing is odd too, was she kenyan?

    this is getting wierder and wierder.

    ~ veritas

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  18. you know Daktari, i smell something big. i have a feeling this had something to do with AFP press.. the french one. didn't you think it was unusual they reported about this?

    also i did some research and found Trent shared the same surname as a media critic of sarkozy (the french president) doesn't like.. william keegan.

    i say the police should investigate the AFP headquarters in nairobi, find out how they knew about this incident, i bet you his sim card and laptop is there as well..

    ~ veritas

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