Monday, November 15: High Court Judge Eric Ogola has found Sergeant Naftali Chege, retired Chief Inspector Charles Munyiri, and constables John Pamba and Barak Bulima who were accused of murdering Alexander Monson in 2012 guilty of manslaughter.
In his verdict, the four were guilty of covering up Alexander's death, by planting drugs on him to feign a drug overdose. The judge also added that Alexander was in perfect health when he arrived at the Diani Police Station but was subjected to brutal torture while there.
“I am satisfied that the death of the deceased was caused through unlawful omission on the part of the accused persons for failing to seek medical care for the deceased in good time,” Judge Ogola said.
Chege was sentenced to 15 years in prison, five of which were suspended. Munyiri and Pamba were sentenced to 12 years each, six of which were suspended respectively. Bulima was sentenced to nine years, five of which were suspended.
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British Aristocrat Lord Nicholas Monson, whose son Alexander Monson was killed in police custody in Diani, has arrived in the country ahead of the determination of the case at the Mombasa High Court.
This will be the first time he will be facing Sergeant Naftali Chege, retired Chief Inspector Charles Munyiri, and constables John Pamba and Barak Bulima who allegedly murdered his son and were charged in May 2012.
Alexander died in the Diani Police Station on Saturday, May 20, 2012, after he was arrested for a drug offense the previous night, after a night of making merry with his friends at a hotel in Diani.
A post mortem conducted on the deceased's body revealed that he died of blunt force trauma to the head.
The police had initially claimed that he had died of a drug overdose, but the claims were countered by a toxicology report that revealed that he had no drugs in his system by the time of his death.
Lord Monson has been disappointed on several occasions as the case has dragged on for nine years, with the alleged suspects out on bail and still serving in the police force.
"Many told me I was wasting my time, taking on the Kenyan police in their own country. It has taken a heavy toll on my health and it has cost me tens of thousands," he lamented in an interview with an international publication.
"But I was not about to give up and see the men who did this to Alexander walk away," he further remarked.
Alexander, the son of the 12th Baron Monson, and heir to a family estate in Lincolnshire, in eastern England, had moved to Kenya to live with his mother Hilary Monson in 2008.
Lord Monson expected support from Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority(IPOA) as investigating his son's murder was among the first cases ever taken on by the authority when it was set up ten years ago.
He blames Kenya's justice system, for derailing the case that has caused him sleepless nights and awaits the verdict to hear who was responsible for the gruesome murder of his son.
The case will be presided over by Justice Eric Ogola and the verdict is set to be read on Monday, November 15 at the Mombasa High Court.
