A Kenyan has dragged the British police to court after spending a decade behind bars over a wrongful conviction.
The Kenyan, Ali Kololo, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death over an alleged attack on British tourists. Kololo was the only suspect in a case involving the murder of a British holidaymaker and the kidnapping of his wife at a resort close to the Kenya-Somali border.
The holidaymaker, David Tebbutt, was shot dead, and his wife Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped and taken to Somalia, only to be released six months later after a ransom was paid.
At the time, Kololo, a Lamu County native, was convicted of robbery with violence in connection with the 2011 attack. After serving more than a decade behind bars, his conviction was quashed in 2023.
Nearly two years after his conviction was tossed out, Kololo is suing the Metropolitan police, with his lawyers arguing the authorities provided misleading evidence to a Kenyan court, leading to his harsh sentencing.
The Guardian reports that emails between the Home Office and Foreign Office have revealed that the Metropolitan Police were authorized to deploy to Kenya, despite the fact that the case could result in the death penalty.
The emails, which were released after a subject requested access, further showed some level of panic on the possibility of Kololo being handed the death penalty over a robbery with violence offence.
This, according to a legal charity representing Kololo, was against government rules against assisting “might directly or significantly contribute to ... use of the death penalty, both the imposition of the death sentence and executions”.
Kololo's lawyers further argue that his decade-long stay at prison was subject to “appalling conditions".
Former detective chief inspector Neil Hibberd, now retired, has also been fingered by Kololo's lawyers for failing to provide key information on the prosecution’s allegations that a footprint linked Kololo was found at the crime scene.
Met Police’s analysis of a partially washed-away imprint was inconclusive, while Kololo did and did not fit a pair of shoes presented as a match for the footprint during his trial. Further, the suspect claimed he was barefoot on the fateful day.
Kololo, who is now in his 40s, was also unfairly tried since he did not have legal representation, and his case heavily relied on the cross-examination of 20 witnesses, including Hibberd.
Preetha Gopalan, head of UK litigation at the legal charity, now wants the Metropolitan police to issue an apology and some form of compensation to Kololo.
“Is the UK government continuing to provide this kind of assistance to countries around the world and becoming complicit in human rights violations because they haven’t learned the lessons from the past?” She posed.
