MOMBASA, Kenya Nov 15 – Four Kenyan police officers accused of killing Alexander Monson, the son of British aristocrat Nicholas Monson, have been sentenced to up to 12 years.
The officers were sentenced on Monday by Justice Eric Ogola who found them guilty of manslaughter.
They were accused of killing Alexander in May 2012 following an arrest over bhang-smoking in Diani.
The officers include, Naftali Chege, Charles Munyiri, Ismael Baraka and John Pamba. They will all serve between 9 and 15 years.
The Judge ruled: “I hereby sentence first accused person Chege to 15 years imprisonment, however five years have been suspended, Munyiri 12, six years of which are suspended, Baraka 9, but five have been suspended and Pamba shall serve 12, but six years have been suspended.”
He said he varied the sentences based on the accused person’s individual responsibility in the death.
One of the accused person, Pamba is however, unwell
and has been allowed to start serving his sentence in November next year.
Alexander’s father Lord Nicholas Monson jetted into the country for the sentencing and sat throughout the session at the Mombasa Law Courts.
He said he was happy justice had been served, but termed it lenient.
“I am happy that justice has finally be delivered because when Alexander was killed. It was not only him who was killed, it was part of Hillary, me and his sister. We all died when Alexander died. A message must be sent to the police. This must stop,” he told journalists outside the court.
The late Alexander was arrested in a nightclub in Diani where he was accused of smoking bhang. He died the following day after falling unconscious while on the cells where he is said to have been assaulted by the officers.
“He was obviously tortured, but that did not happen inside the police cells because other witnesses would have said it. He was tortured within the compound of the Diani police station and the accused persons know what happened,” said Ogola, “However, they failed to take the suspect to hospital due to negligence or casual nature of handling the matter. Therefore, I convict the accused persons to felony of manslaughter.”
The court said that even though the prosecution failed to establish who inflicted the injuries to the deceased, there was circumstantial evidence adduced proved manslaughter.
