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28 March 2024

Second gunman in Robert Kennedy assasination

Robert F Kennedy (AFP)

Published
By AFP

There was a second shooter in the 1968 assassination of US presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy, a witness said in comments aired Monday.

The new account comes as the gunman convicted over the killing, Sirhan Sirhan, awaits an appeal ruling over his conviction, with lawyers seeking his release or a retrial.

"Bobby" Kennedy, a younger brother of assassinated President John F Kennedy, was himself killed in 1968 while running for the US presidency. Sirhan is behind bars in California after being jailed for life in 1972.

But Nina Rhodes-Hughes, who was only feet away when Kennedy was gunned down at a Los Angeles hotel, said the now 68-year-old Sirhan was not the only shooter that day.

"What has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right," she told CNN in an exclusive interview, adding: "The truth has got to be told. No more cover-ups."

"There were more than eight shots," she said, adding that she had told at least one broadcaster on the night of the shootings that there were 12, maybe 14 shots, but investigators had ignored the claim.

"There were two shooters, that must come out and who they were. It must come out who the other shooter is, because there definitely was another shooter," added Rhodes-Hughes, who was not called at the original trial.

Sirhan, who is serving life behind bars at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California, has applied to be released, retried or granted a hearing on new evidence -- including Rhodes-Hughes' account, CNN reported.

The US District Court in Los Angeles is due to rule on the request about who was responsible for the June 6, 1968 killing.

At his original trial Sirhan's lawyers did not dispute the prosecution claim that he was the only shooter. Sirhan confessed that he had killed Kennedy "with 20 years of malice aforethought," but later withdrew the admission.

Prosecutors led by California Attorney General Kamala Harris have argued in recent court filings that if there were a second gunman involved, Sirhan is still guilty of murder under California law.

"Bobby" Kennedy's older brother John F "Jack" Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in a killing that shocked the world and has long been the subject of conspiracy theories.