Eight Somalis charged with the hijacking of a yacht that left four U.S. citizens dead have agreed to plead guilty and testify against others, lawyers say.
Hearings in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., for three of the men are expected Friday and the rest Monday, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
The Quest was hijacked in the Arabian Sea in February. When a Navy team boarded the vessel, they found the bodies of the owners Scott and Jean Adam of Los Angeles, and their guests, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, along with the bodies of four Somalis.
Lawyer Jon Babineau told the Virginian-Pilot his client, Mohamud Hirs Issa Ali, has admitted planning the original kidnapping. But Ali says another group effectively hijacked the hijacking.
"He did not want them to die, and it was never his intent for them to be killed," Babineau said. "He simply wanted to go back to Somalia and hold the boat for ransom. Others had more extreme ideas. Sadly enough, those others won out, and tragically, the others were killed."
Source: United Press International, Inc
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