The lawyer for the Australian teacher Gabrielle Maina shot dead in Nairobi has said she was in fear for her life before the attack and it is possible her killing was a targeted murder rather than a botched robbery.
Maina’s lawyer, George Kingori, said the teacher had been granted a restraining order in April against her estranged husband. The relationship between the pair had broken down and Maina was seeking custody of their two children, he said.
“She required a restraining order against the husband for constantly stalking, approaching her place of work and as well as the residence,” he said.
He has urged authorities to keep investigating the murder of the mother-of-two in the Kenyan capital.
The teacher was shot in the exclusive suburb of Karen on Thursday during what was initially believed to be a botched robbery reportedly involving assailants on motorbikes.
“It is important for them [Australian Department of Foreign Affairs] to keep on pushing until it is certain as to what caused her death,” Kingori told ABC Radio.
It’s believed Maina, who was originally from Armidale in New South Wales, had just dropped off her son at a friend’s home.
“The shooting happened when she was kneeling and someone was standing,” Kingori said.
Security company Insight Secure, which monitors local incidents, said a caucasian woman was killed by “unidentified assailants” and “a 9mm cartridge was recovered at the crime scene”, Fairfax Media reports.
The Kenya high commission in Canberra said investigations were under way in Nairobi.
