Photo: Karel Prinsloo/Associated PressThomas Cholmondeley, center, listened on Thursday in Nairobi as he was sentenced to a further eight months in jail for shooting a poacher.
By REUTERS
The heir to Kenya's most famous white settler family was sentended to a further eight months in jail on Thursday for shooting a black poacher in a case that has highlighted land and race tensions in the east African country.
Tom Cholmondeley, grandson of Lord Delamere who came to Kenya from Britain a century ago, was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2006 shooting of Robert Njoya on the family's vast ranch.
At Kenya's High Court, Justice Muga Apondi said he was giving a "light" punishment given that Cholmondeley had been imprisoned for three years already, and had tried to help Njoya with first aid and transport to hospital.
Cholmondeley, 40, will serve the eight months in jail despite the fact he has already been in a Nairobi prison since mid-2006. The tall, besuited farmer stood impassively as the sentence was read to a courtroom packed with foreign journalists, and relatives of both his and his victim's family.
Some member of the public raised placards in protest, saying the justice system favoured the rich. Apondi acknowledged tensions around the case. "This court understands the undercurrents, but I believe the executive is dealing with the issues of land and other inequalities," he said.
