Four Kenyan policemen will stand trial for the murder of a British aristocrat who died in police custody in 2012, a judge ruled this week.
Alex Monson — the 28-year-old son and heir to the 12th Baron Monson — was found dead in his cell in Diani after being arrested for allegedly possessing cannabis.
Police said he died of an overdose — but reports by government pathologists said he suffered a traumatic blow to the head. An inquest later said there had been a cover-up and threats to witnesses.
On Monday, High Court Judge Erick Ogolla ruled that four officers — Naftali Chege, Charles Wangombe Munyiri, Baraka Bulima and John Pamba — must stand trial in Mombasa on murder charges.
Kenyan police officers accused of killing Alexander Monson, a British citizen who was found dead in his prison cell in 2012, on the first day of their trial at the high court in Mombasa, Kenya on Jan. 22, 2019. REUTERS“The accused should tell the court what happened since the deceased was arrested in good health,” Ogolla ruled.
Lord Nicholas Monson told The Telegraph that the decision over his son’s death was “certainly a relief.”
“I think we are all exhausted — the process has been so enervating — but we have to soldier on,” he said. “It is hard on all the family.”
Hilary Manson and her husband John Lockhart leave the high court in Mombasa after the ruling on their son Alexander Monson, 28, who was found dead in his prison cell in 2012, in Mombasa, Kenya on March 22, 2021. REUTERSThe dead man’s mother, Hilary Monson, was in court Monday. “We are happy with this ruling and we hope at the end of day justice for my late son will be served,” she told Reuters.
The trial is due to begin on May 10.
With Post wires
