I was six and asked gunman why are you killing people?
FAMILIES cowered on the ground as masked gunmen walked around shooting people one by one.
Sixty-seven died, including children, in the Kenya shopping mall massacre masterminded by Irish “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite almost 10 years ago.
Today a survivor, who was just six when it happened, tells her story for the first time.
Amelie Prior and her fouryear-old brother escaped unharmed after their mother Amber hid them behind a meat counter and used her own body to shield them from the bullets.
Amber was hailed a hero for helping them and two others escape despite being shot in the left thigh. Her daughter, now 16 and at a Surrey boarding school, recalled: “While we were hiding, I heard lots of gunshots and the terrorists started shooting people around us.
“I remember my mum getting up and talking to one of the terrorists after he said, ‘Any children still alive can leave’.
REVENGE
“I didn’t even realise my mum had been shot at the time. I remember when we got up there was blood on the floor and we had blood on our clothes and our shoes.
“My mum asked the terrorist if she could take two other children with her. Then she got a trolley to help carry an injured little boy out. While she was getting the trolley my brother and I started talking to the terrorist.
“I asked him why he was doing this and he told me it was because the Kenyan army had come to his village and killed all their wives and children, so they wanted revenge.
“He then apologised to us, saying we weren’t the ones who killed his wife and children. Then he gave us chocolate bars – I think it was a Mars bar and a Snickers.”
Mum Amber recalled: “Amelie told me that she and her brother Elliott told the terrorist he was a ‘bad man’. When the terrorist offered them chocolate bars, Elliott said, ‘I don’t want a Mars bar, I want chewing gum’ but Amelie told him, ‘No, take the Mars bar’.”
The gunman and three accomplices were all found dead in the rubble after the attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi on Saturday September 21, 2013, which turned into an 80-hour siege.
They were from the Islamist group Alshabaab and one of the masterminds behind the atrocity was Lewthwaite, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. The 39-year-old Muslim convert, reared in Banbridge, Co Down, and dubbed the White Widow because her first two Jihadi husbands were killed, is thought to be in Africa training her four kids to
‘‘ I asked the terrorist why he was doing this – he apologised and gave us chocolate bars
be terrorists. Amelie added: “If she is found I think she should face justice. If that means bringing her back to the UK then that’s what should be done. The idea that someone could feel the love they feel for their child and still take a child away from another mother – they can’t be right in their mind.”
Amelie said of her own mother: “She’s honestly my role model. I dream of becoming as amazing as she is. She loved us so much she was willing to sacrifice her life to get us out of there. The fact that she also saved the other two children just shows how caring she is.”
Speaking of the attack, Amber, a French film producer, added: “People were just lying on the ground. The gunmen then came in one end and
started systematically shooting us one by one. They were walking among us and shooting us from above. Then a man stood over me and shot me through the leg. It was like a burning sensation.
“My biggest fear was that I was going to die on top of my children. They then just walked away.” She also recalls a “surreal” chat with one who made her promise to convert to Islam.
When she said she was French, he said they were only after Americans and Kenyans.
Amber and British husband Dan still live in Kenya where they run a film production company.
Amelie and Elliott are at boarding school in the UK. Amelie is doing A-levels and hopes to study international relations and politics at uni. They also have a younger sister, Sophia, now five – despite their mother having being told she could have no more children because of the gunshot wound.
Amber said: “I was so shocked when I got pregnant. It was a wonderful surprise.” And despite everything, she does not hate the terrorists. Amber said: “You can’t hate people like that, because they’re obviously not mentally well. Hate and anger doesn’t really solve anything.
“All these terrorists probably have children of their own.” The massacre left Amelie with a fear of guns and movies involving shooting.
She said: “I used to have nightmares almost every night. I kept having one about being in a squatting position and a bullet passing through my legs and hitting the lady behind me. When I moved to the UK for boarding school, I started to panic that a gunman would break into our house and shoot my whole family when I wasn’t there.”
But Amelie went back to Westgate for the first time at Easter to watch a film with friends.
She said: “I was anxious that I was going to get emotional or it would bring back memories.
“In reality it was fine. I was quite proud of myself as it was something I’ve been scared to do for the past 10 years.”
And her attitude to the attack has changed. She said: “For a long time, my mindset was, ‘Why did this happen to us? Why did this happen to me?’ I thought it wasn’t fair.
“But then as I got older, I realised there are a lot of people who lost their loved ones and I was lucky enough to keep my mum. Now I feel lucky.”