She went on to describe how she stripped naked in a bid to save her brother’s life, “in Kalenjin culture a naked woman is a curse and seeing this, Brown shoved my brother at me and told me to take my trash with me.”
According to the witness, she got help down the road when she pleaded in Kalenjin with a Kalenjin truck-owner for her brother’s life.
The truck-driver eventually dropped her brother off at the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret saving his life.
The witness’ testimony was frequently disrupted, not just when Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji allowed the witness a break to compose herself, but when the judge and Deputy President William Ruto’s defence counsel, Karim Khan, engaged in a debate on whether or not the witness should be notified, on the stand, that she would risk prosecution should she be found to have given false testimony.
“There are certain warnings that may be given to the witness and that looms large on their mind when they testify,” Eboe-Osuji argued cautious not to intimidate the witness but he did eventually communicate Khan’s wishes to the witness.
It was then agreed that future witness preparation sessions would be video taped to ensure witnesses are notified of this provision and are therefore careful not to give an untrue version of events.
In Kalenjin culture a naked woman is a curse and seeing this, Brown shoved my brother at me and told me to take my trash with me.
“Do not try to guess at an answer you do not know. It’s always important to make sure you understand the question before you answer it,” Eboe-Osuji had directed the witness at the start of the trial.
Translation also proved to be a sticking point for the victims’ legal counsel, Wilfred Nderitu, and journalist Joshua arap Sang’s lawyer Katwa Kigen who both understand Kiswahili.
They pointed out instances where the English translation did not accurately communicate what the witness was trying to say.
“There are instances when the witness used the word ‘adui’ which the English word is ‘enemy’ but the translator used the word ‘group’, there are instances where the witness said the people wore khaki shorts and the translation that was given is that it was ‘leaves,’” Kigen illustrated.
The court also went into a closed sessions at least three times with the final being for the witness to indicate, on a map she had drawn, where each of the events she had related transpired.
The first witness continues to give her testimony on Wednesday in order to allow the prosecution to complete their interrogation and the defence, victims’ counsel and chamber a chance to cross-examine her.
The chamber had allowed the prosecution an approximate four hours to question the witness, both defence teams an equal amount of time to carry out their cross-examination and half this allocation to the judges and Nderitu totalling 16 hours.
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