Blame shifts in murder case that reopens Kenya wounds

FOR two years the Right Honourable Thomas Cholmondeley has bedded down with hardened criminals, cockroaches and rats in a Kenyan prison, waiting for an opportunity to defend himself in a murder trial.

Yesterday, in a packed Nairobi courthouse, he got his chance.

Amid flickering lights and manacled prisoners, the heir to the fifth Baron Delamere admitted misleading police to protect a friend who was with him on the day a poacher was shot dead on his family's estate.

His new evidence, which shifts the blame to another high-profile member of the Kenyan white élite, could prove the turning point in a case that has divided opinion and reopened old colonial-era wounds of land and race.

Cholmondeley, 40, said he had been walking on the 58,000-acre ranch with Carl Tundo, a rally driver, when the pair stumbled upon a gang of poachers. He dropped to one knee and fired four rounds at their dogs from a hunting rifle he had taken for protection against buffalo.

Seconds later, he became aware of an injured man lying on the ground.

At about that time, Mr Tundo – nicknamed "Flash" – emerged from the bush with a pistol, which he used to kill one dog.

"I didn't mention this in my statement to the police because that night in the cells Flash was very upset and tearful," said Cholmondeley, who gave evidence in an unsworn statement, which meant he could not be cross-examined.

"He asked me not to mention it for fear he would get into trouble," Cholmondeley added.

Friends say it is typical of the gangly Old Etonian to protect his friend by taking the blame for a tragic accident.

Cholmondeley told police that he had been the only one with a gun. He was arrested and charged with murdering Robert Njoya, who died in hospital.

His arrest came only a year after the separated father of two was charged with the murder of an undercover game warden in an apparent act of self-defence.

The decision by the attorney general not to pursue a case against a member of one of Kenya's most famous white families aroused suspicions of preferential treatment.

Yesterday, Cholmondeley said he was confident none of his bullets could have killed Mr Njoya. "Up to now I cannot see how I could have shot this person," he said, as television news crews jostled for position. "He was nowhere in the field of view when I shot the dogs.

"Had I shot him I would have expected him to be lying right where the dogs were. I can't understand, if I'd shot him, why he was 20 metres off to the left."

Mr Tundo appeared as a prosecution witness early in the trial. During a hostile period of cross-examination, he repeatedly denied carrying his father's Beretta handgun.

Police ballistics experts say they have not been able to identify the type of bullet that killed Mr Njoya.

Cholmondeley added that his friend had been badly distracted in the time after the shooting and had driven off in his car shortly after police took the injured man to hospital.

The case is expected to finish hearing evidence later this month.

BACKGROUND

The latest case has reminded older Kenyans of the "White Mischief" trial which highlighted the excesses of the Happy Valley in the 1940s.

This time white farmers – who have tried hard to erase the reputation for hedonism and racism earned by the original settlers – fear a backlash against the few families who still farm the Kenyan highlands.

Cholmondeley's arrest provoked angry protests around the Delamere land.

A handful of politicians used Robert Njoya's funeral as a stage to call for a Zimbabwe-style land grab.