Grandson of Kenya settler kills another man

Police arrested the grandson of one of Kenya’s first white settlers today for shooting and killing an alleged poacher, the second time in little more than a year the rancher has killed someone on his property.

Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley, a descendent of Lord Delamere, said he shot 37-year-old Robert Wambugu after finding him on his central Kenyan property slaughtering a wild animal, police said.

Arrested along with Cholmondeley was Carl Jean Pierre Tundo, who was also present during the shooting.

“According to Tom, the suspect was conducting illegal trade in the farm when the shooting incident occurred,” said Simon Kiragu, the Naivasha area police commander.

Wambugu died while being taken to a hospital, he added.

Cholmondeley was charged with murder after shooting one of three plain-clothes wardens investigating reports of illegal trade in wildlife at his property on April 19, 2005.

The wardens had detained Cholmondeley’s farm workers for skinning the carcass of a buffalo that had been shot once in the head, authorities said.

But Kenya’s attorney general later dropped the charges, citing lack of evidence.