Fury at aristocrat’s 8-month jail term

A KENYAN judge yesterday jailed the grandson of an English baron for eight months for killing a black man on his vast estate, a significantly lower penalty than the maximum he faced of life in prison.

Masaai protesters in court shouted in outrage as the judgment was read.

Thomas Cholmondeley was convicted of man-slaughter last week for the 2006 shooting of a 37-year-old black poacher.

He had initially been charged with murder and has been in prison since his May 2006 arrest.

High Court Judge Muga Apondi reduced the charge to manslaughter on May 7, saying that Cholmondeley showed no malice or intent when he shot Robert Njoya.

“I do believe deeply that the process has humbled the accused person,” Judge Apondi said yesterday.

“In view of the total circumstances, I hereby wish to impose a light sentence on the accused.”

Judge Apondi was interrupted by several traditionally dressed Masaai who began shouting and waving banners, denouncing Cholmondeley and demanding justice for the families of the two men he had shot.

The prosecution said it would consider appealing the sentence.

James Muthui, a defence lawyer, said it wasn’t clear whether Cholmondeley would be released immediately owing to time already served in prison, because the last portion of the judgment was drowned out by the outraged protesters.

He said the lawyers were waiting for a written copy of the judgment.

The shooting of Njoya was the second time in a little more than a year that Cholmondeley had shot a black man dead on his vast, largely ungated farm in the Rift Valley.

The lake-studded area was once dubbed “Happy Valley” because of the decadent lifestyles of its colonial settlers.

Charges against Cholmondeley were dropped in the first shooting case amid accusations of high-level government intervention, enraging Kenyans who say that he received special state treatment because he is an heir to Britain’s Lord Delamere.

Cholmondeley’s lawyer, Fred Ojiambo, said he was happy with the judge’s decision.

“I think it is a reasonable sentence,” said Ojiambo.

“The judge was very just.”

Cholmondeley has spent about three years in a maximum security prison, a long way from his luxurious upbringing.

He was educated at Eton and is the great-grandson of the third Baron Delamere, one of Kenya’s first politically powerful white settlers more than a century ago.