KENYA: Kenyan judge due to give ruling on Cholmondeley case

Record ID: 361909

  • Title: KENYA: Kenyan judge due to give ruling on Cholmondeley case
  • Date: 8th May 2009
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (MAY 07, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TOM CHOLMONDELEY DISEMBARKING FROM THE BUS
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Reuters ID: LVAAKJDA26JGFIKCKHE5ZB7P61Q6
  • Story Text: Kenyan court to give verdict in murder trial of a white aristocrat,Tom Cholmondeley, accused of shooting a stonemason on his farm.
    The verdict was due on Thursday (May 7) in one of Kenya's most sensational trials, with reprisals threatened if the heir to the country's most famous white settler family is cleared of murder for a second time.
    A judge is due to announce his verdict after independent assessors monitoring the landmark murder trial of Tom Cholmondeley (PRONOUNCED 'CHUM-LEEY') returned a not guilty verdict earlier.
    In Kenya assessors are members of the public chosen to decide guilt or innocence in a manner similar to a normal jury system. Their verdict is not binding on the judge.
    Heavy security was in place as Cholmondeley was being driven in a prison bus. He was led to the courts jail before appearing in front of a judge.
    Cholmondeley, the great-grandson of Britain's Lord Delamere, admits shooting dogs belonging to a group of poachers he confronted on his 55,000-acre Soysambu ranch in May 2006.
    He denies shooting dead Robert Njoya. The trial is the second murder case against the Eton-educated aristocrat, who was also accused of killing a wild-life ranger in April 2005.
    That case was dropped for lack of evidence, triggering an outcry and suggestions from many Kenyans that their nation still had two sets of laws -- one for whites and one for blacks.
    Both cases fanned simmering colonial-era resentment against settlers who snatched large swathes of land during British rule. Cholmondeley's family is one of Kenya's largest landowners and has lived in the east African country for close to a century.
    jd/jrc
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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