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| Aristocrat has 'case to answer' | Aristocrat has 'case to answer' |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A British aristocrat accused of murdering a man who had been poaching on his Kenyan estate has a case to answer, a court has ruled. | A British aristocrat accused of murdering a man who had been poaching on his Kenyan estate has a case to answer, a court has ruled. |
| Thomas Cholmondeley, 38, a descendant of white settler Lord Delamere, denies the murder of 37-year-old Robert Njoya. | Thomas Cholmondeley, 38, a descendant of white settler Lord Delamere, denies the murder of 37-year-old Robert Njoya. |
| The court has heard from 38 prosecution witnesses since it opened in September. | The court has heard from 38 prosecution witnesses since it opened in September. |
| Under the Kenyan system judges can end the trial at that point if there is insufficient evidence, but in this case have ruled the defence should go ahead. | |
| Defence lawyers for Mr Cholmondley, who faces the death penalty if convicted, are due to call seven witnesses. | Defence lawyers for Mr Cholmondley, who faces the death penalty if convicted, are due to call seven witnesses. |
| He has already said he shot the poacher in self-defence, telling police after his arrest the man had three companions and a pack of dogs and he suspected them of poaching a gazelle. | |
| He said he shot at the group after they set their dogs on him, hitting the man - who died later on the way to hospital - and killing two dogs. | |
| Second murder case | |
| It is the second murder charge divorced father-of-two Mr Cholmondeley has faced. | It is the second murder charge divorced father-of-two Mr Cholmondeley has faced. |
| In 2005 he admitted shooting another man - Maasai ranger Samson Ole Sisina - but said he acted in self-defence, mistaking the warden for an armed robber. | |
| The case was dropped due to insufficient evidence and his release prompted national outrage and mass protests from Maasais. | The case was dropped due to insufficient evidence and his release prompted national outrage and mass protests from Maasais. |
| Opening the latest trial last year Keriako Tobiko, Kenya's director of public prosecutions, dismissed claims Mr Cholmondeley feared for his safety when he killed Mr Njoya. | |
| "The accused attacked the deceased and his companions as retaliation or revenge for trespassing and poaching," he told the court. | |
| The trial later heard that the shooting took place after a spate of armed robberies on Mr Cholmondeley's estate. | |
| Ranch manager Koigi Kahugia told the Nairobi trial that the farm's managing director was shot in a hold-up and two other managers were robbed at gunpoint. | |
| Spear | |
| Mr Cholmondeley had driven the dying man to hospital, the court also heard. | |
| Witness Karl Tundo said he had been walking through dense bush, a few metres behind the defendant, when he had heard voices and then three or four shots in quick succession. | |
| Mr Tundo said: "Tom [Mr Cholmondeley] shouted at me to go and get the car because he had hit someone by mistake." | |
| Another witness, Peter Gichuhi, said he was among poachers accompanying Mr Njoya. | |
| At one point he admitted he had lied under oath to the court when he said he had not been carrying a spear. | |
| He said he and two other poachers had walked deep into the estate when suddenly shots rang out. | |
| Mr Gichuhi said he dropped a large blade and a Thomson's Gazelle that they had found trapped in a snare and fled on foot, but never saw Mr Njoya alive again. |