- Title: KENYA: White Kenyan aristocrat and heir denies murder
- Date: 8th July 2008
- Summary: (W3) NAIVASHA, KENYA (FILE - NOVEMBER 2, 2006) (REUTERS) COURT PARTY WALKING AT CHOLMONDELEY'S FARM VARIOUS OF WITNESS GIVING TESTIMONY TO THE JUDGE AT FARM VARIOUS OF CHOLMONDELEY LISTENING TO THE TESTIMONIES VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS STANDING AT CHOLMONDELEY'S FARM
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Reuters ID: LVA7WPBD4Y15H3U93BCNYOEO5KYC
- Story Text: White Kenyan aristocrat Thomas Cholmondeley testifies not guilty in Nairobi's High Court over charges he murdered a poacher in 2006.
The heir to Kenya's most famous white settler family told a murder trial on Tuesday (July 8) he could not have shot a local stonemason who was poaching on his land, implying that a friend might have killed the man instead.
Thomas Cholmondeley, the great-grandson of Lord Delamere, admits shooting dogs belonging to a group of poachers he confronted on his 55,000 acre Soysambu ranch in May 2006.
But the 40-year-old, in his first testimony since he was arrested more than two years ago, denied shooting dead Robert Njoya.
The trial is the second murder case against the Eton-educated aristocrat, who was also accused of killing a wildlife ranger in April 2005.
That case was dropped for lack of evidence, triggering an outcry and suggestions from many Kenyans that their country still had two sets of laws -- one for whites and one for blacks.
After his arrest, Cholmondeley told police that he and a friend had been walking at his sprawling ranch when they saw five men carrying machetes, bows and arrows and a dead impala.
In court on Tuesday, he said that his companion -- local rally driver Carl Tundo -- had also been carrying a firearm, and Cholmondeley implied that Tundo might have shot the poacher.
He said he did not tell police about Tundo's pistol at first because Tundo, who he called Flash, had asked him not to.
Cholmondeley testified for about 90 minutes with his parents Lord and Lady Delamere looking on. Also in court were his wife and Njoya's widow.
Both cases against Cholmondeley have fanned simmering colonial-era resentment against white settlers who snatched large swathes of land for themselves during British rule.
His family is one of Kenya's largest landowners and has lived in the east African country for close to a century.
Although many Kenyans complain about white farmers, many others also resent wealthy black Kenyans who gave themselves huge tracts of land after independence from Britain in 1963. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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