So, Tom Cholmondeley's lengthly trial has finally reached the end and the murder charge has been reduced to manslaughter by the judge. The accused said that he was 'shocked' by the verdict. His hopes were raised when a couple of weeks ago crime investigators had given a 'not guilty' result and many believed he would walk free. The judge might have felt he could not do this as it would not be well received publically - 'wealthy landowner walks free after second murder'. He is to be sentanced next Tues and they say will get 3-5 years, though the three years he has already been in held prison on remand apparently won't count towards that total, according to Kenyan law. The family and friends must be gutted.
Kibaki and Raila had a bit of a direct dressing down by church leaders yesterday when they attended a church mass. The Bishop said that the Kenyan people had lost faith in the Coalition Government - that the people have a right to fresh elections so that they are given the chance to get rid of the politicians who are not doing their job properly.
The National Council of Churches of Kenya and Transparency International (Kenya) recently conducted a survey of 1,400 Kenyans in April. Results of a recent survey/opinion poll revealed that Kenyans would like to see an equal sharing of power between the President and Prime Minister - plus 78% do not believe Mutula Kilonzo will be able to deliver a new constition within a year, as promised. 62% believe that political interference will stand in the way and other said bickering and tribalism will be the main obstacles.
A teacher (Kenyan) at the kindergarten that two of my daughters attend asked me if I could donate a high chair to the school she helps at for children with learning difficulties. She knew my kids were getting older and said it would be a huge help to be able to strap in the children while trying to feed them three or more at a time. The school/day care centre is located in a low cost area on the outskirts of Nairobi off Thika Road. The centre (which has just been set up) helps children with special needs who might otherwise be left at home all day. Normal schools and daycare are generally reluctant to help them. This means that the majority of mum's of children with special needs cannot go out to work.
I am also handing over my cot that we have had for years as the teacher said that it would also help. It was originally made on the side of the road in 2000 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (a very rough copy of a Mothercare design). The cot has served us well and it is strangely quite a wrench to say goodbye to it.. but I really admire this lady - she made me feel pretty humble this morning.
My American friend who set up 'Acacia House' (see link below) orphanage just outside Ngong Town now has six girls resident - (for a while there have only been two)! Two recent arrivals are from the home that Liz and Stu worked in voluntarily when they arrived in Nairobi a year ago, and which turned out to be being run by a very nasty man and a Pastor to boot. He was taking donated money and the children were treated and fed poorly. This home has recently been closed down by local authorities at long last.
Kibaki and Raila had a bit of a direct dressing down by church leaders yesterday when they attended a church mass. The Bishop said that the Kenyan people had lost faith in the Coalition Government - that the people have a right to fresh elections so that they are given the chance to get rid of the politicians who are not doing their job properly.
The National Council of Churches of Kenya and Transparency International (Kenya) recently conducted a survey of 1,400 Kenyans in April. Results of a recent survey/opinion poll revealed that Kenyans would like to see an equal sharing of power between the President and Prime Minister - plus 78% do not believe Mutula Kilonzo will be able to deliver a new constition within a year, as promised. 62% believe that political interference will stand in the way and other said bickering and tribalism will be the main obstacles.
A teacher (Kenyan) at the kindergarten that two of my daughters attend asked me if I could donate a high chair to the school she helps at for children with learning difficulties. She knew my kids were getting older and said it would be a huge help to be able to strap in the children while trying to feed them three or more at a time. The school/day care centre is located in a low cost area on the outskirts of Nairobi off Thika Road. The centre (which has just been set up) helps children with special needs who might otherwise be left at home all day. Normal schools and daycare are generally reluctant to help them. This means that the majority of mum's of children with special needs cannot go out to work.
I am also handing over my cot that we have had for years as the teacher said that it would also help. It was originally made on the side of the road in 2000 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (a very rough copy of a Mothercare design). The cot has served us well and it is strangely quite a wrench to say goodbye to it.. but I really admire this lady - she made me feel pretty humble this morning.
My American friend who set up 'Acacia House' (see link below) orphanage just outside Ngong Town now has six girls resident - (for a while there have only been two)! Two recent arrivals are from the home that Liz and Stu worked in voluntarily when they arrived in Nairobi a year ago, and which turned out to be being run by a very nasty man and a Pastor to boot. He was taking donated money and the children were treated and fed poorly. This home has recently been closed down by local authorities at long last.
Am surprised at the tone of this article. 'The family and friends must be gutted.'Hmmm. No mention of the victim's family and friends!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt stinks.
I did not mean to offend - it is just that the family believe he is not guilty (as was decided by the team of crime investigators). A guilty of manslaughter verdict comes as a shock to them. I suppose no one will ever know exactly what happened that day except Carl Tundo and Tom Cholmondeley.
ReplyDeleteOf course the death that occurred three years ago was tragic - that, to me, went without saying.
trespassers should be shot and survivors shot again!!.Its no different with a person who enters your house armed.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a gun I would shoot so many people who just think they have a right to destroy peoples property,kwa sababu sisi ni wengi ama ni masikini.But he had to be found guilty for political appeasement.
muriithi, nyandarua.
Oh come on...the guy KILLED 2 Africans in cold blood, with little provocation and he gets what I would consider a slap on the wrists?
ReplyDeleteOh, to be rich and white in Kenya...
he's got previous btw-killed somebody in 2005-no grey areas in that case and the govt let him off so to insinuate that he's suffered a miscarriage of justice is plain wrong. i noticed,in your earlier piece when the assesors verdict came through that you were mad he's been in jail for so long etc... while 2 people died?!
ReplyDeleteWe all know how Kenya works. Rich (white,black, asian) Vs poor. The system stinks but only because it's always manipulated by the former to opress the latter Period. Cholmondeley killed before-got away with it. Did it again and somehow it got downgraded to manslaughter. At most he'll serve maybe one more year or less and will soon be back to enjoy his life. Fair play, but it's wrong and insensitive to subtley suggest he's suffered some sort of mis-carriage of justice, while some kids and women have been left fatherless and widowed and generally more out of sorts than when those 2 people were alive.
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteblog walking
nice to be here
Frances, I'd be interested to know the source of the comment that time already spent does not count. Am not refuting that, only am asking becuase that is what I myself have been wondering about.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
BTW, it was not 'crime investigators' who decided that he's not guilty; it was the Assessors, who sit with the Judge in such trials but whose 'advice' is not binding on the Court.
AEW sometimes it what we don't say that is more poignant then what we do say.... I agree with anonymous!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone thinks that you go around shooting people for sport in Kenya must need their head checking. Would you want to get entangled with the police and the legal system in Kenya? The answer for most people - black or white - would be a big NO, but especially so if you are non-black for the simple reason that you have no political constituency to protect you (even if you are innocent), becasue you are seen as a legitimate target for extortion and because of the sad and petty vindictiveness that has become a hallmark of a scratchy and unhappy society that has made a balls up of all the many things that were going for it.
ReplyDeleteI blame the Government for not providing security (which is a terrible problem in the Rift Valley area - as it is in so many other parts of the country), for police ineptitude and the general breakdown everywere in Kenya. And there was no reason why Njoya should have died of the gunshot wound. The doctors at the hospital were plain incompetent. Do we here anything about that? Will the doctor in attendance and the hospital authorities be tried for medical negligence? How much do you bet on that?
And, by the way, I don't know the accused and have no connection with him.
9 months sentence....Oh to be a muzungu in Kenya is to be glorious indeed!
ReplyDelete