British woman held by pirates reportedly 'sick with fever'

LAMU, Kenya — A British woman abducted from a Kenya beach resort and held in the lair of Somali pirates has taken ill, according to a British newspaper report.

A pirate leader told the Telegraph that Judith Tebbutt is under stress and has a fever.

Tebbutt was taken to Somalia after a brazen raid at the luxury beach resort near the Kenya-Somalia border.

Story: Kenya diplomat: Briton killed, wife kidnapped

Unidentified gunmen raided the Kiwayu Safari Village in the early hours of Sept. 11, shooting dead publishing executive David Tebbutt, 58, and taking Judith Tebbutt, 56, before escaping by boat.

Tebbutt is being held in an unknown location in Somalia

"I was told the hostage is stressed and very sick with fever," said Abdi Yare, who told the Telegraph he had spoken with the kidnappers.

"She also has problems communicating with the kidnappers. She asked for a phone to contact her son and her brother back home," Yare added.

On Monday, Kenyan Ali Babitu Kololo was charged with robbery with violence and kidnapping with intention to murder in connection with the crime at a magistrate's court in the northern coastal town of Lamu. Robbery with violence is a capital offense in Kenya.It was unclear if there had been a demand for ransom to free Tebbutt, and if the word of her illness was a ploy to speed up those demands.

"He pleaded not guilty and the case will be .... heard on October 25," Lamu Senior Resident Magistrate Rwito Kithinji told Reuters, adding that Kololo was also due in court Oct. 4 for a preliminary hearing.

Somali pirates have carried out their kidnappings chiefly in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, but Somali gunmen have attacked Westerners just across the border with Kenya on several occasions.

Kenyan police believe Kololo may have been in working with the attackers at Kiwayu, a luxury 18-cottage resort in a marine reserve that has a chain of islands and coral reefs.

"More charges may be preferred depending on the investigation's outcome. The suspect, we believe, was very much aware of the attack, may have harbored the bandits, knowing very well what they had intended to do," said a senior police source in Lamu.