Mum of Briton dead in police custody cries foul after convicted killers walk free

Hers is a story of betrayal, deceit and 'perverted' justice'.

There was suspense, then it seemed there was justice, then there was a heartbreaking anti-climax.

A real story of a mother fighting long and hard for justice for her dead son.

Hillary Martin, 70, is drained and weak. Her current husband John Lockhart walks by her side, seemingly out words to comfort her

After every terse sentence, Martin pauses, as if trying to gather the courage to speak.

Her voice is hoarse, shaky and barely audible.

It is the pain of losing a son to suspected murderers and then watching them walk out of jail scot-free after only 18 months.

This followed her 12-year search for justice.

“I’m just a mother fighting for justice for my son. We’ve been through 12 years. I’m very very tired,” she said at the Muhuri Legal Aid Clinic on Wednesday.

“I don’t know what else to say. For us it’s a life sentence,” she said.

It all started one sunny May afternoon in 2012 when her son Alexander Monson, then 28, was arrested for allegedly smoking bhang in Diani.

Police took him to Diani police station where his friend found him unconscious the next day. He died hours later.

He had received blows to his head, groin and arm, a post-mortem would reveal days later when the matter took a legal turn.

Four police officers — Chief Inspector Charles Munyuri, Corporal Naftali Chege, and Constables Ismael Baraka and John Pamba — were charged with his murder.

On November 15, 2021, almost a decade later, Judge Eric Ogola found them guilty and sentenced Chege to 15 years in prison, Munyuri to 12 years, Pamba 12 years and Buluma nine years.

They appealed the case and last Friday, a three-judge bench in the Court of Appeal in Mombasa set them free. The learned jurists said the injuries may not have necessarily been inflicted by police officers inside Diani police station cells but might have occurred before Alexander was locked up.

On Wednesday, Muhuri, who had been following up the matter and pushing for a conviction, said the ruling is “strange”.

“This is a sad situation for parents — to lose a child who was 28 years old, murdered by police in a police cell. It took exactly 10 good years to get a conviction,” Muhuri director Khelef Khalifa said.

Khalifa the ruling paints the Kenyan justice system in bad light.

“Definitely there is a cover-up on the part of the police,” Khalifa said. i

He said somebody must take responsibility for failure to properly investigate the case, leading to its defeat at the appellate court.

He called on the Office of Public Prosecutions to have the appellate ruling reviewed or proceed to the Supreme Court.

“We are blaming the police. It was they who arrested him, put him in the cells and murdered him, according to the High Court,” Khalifa said.

“Unfortunately, this is happening in Kenya,” he said.

Muhuri rapid response officer Francis Auma said they will not let this go easily.

“We will have this case taken to Arusha in the Human Rights Court,” he said.

Alexander’s father, British aristocrat Lord Nicholas Monson, Martin’s  former husband, on Sunday said he was “dismayed, shocked, surprised and saddened” by the ruling.

He said, “The message sent to the Kenyan police with the conviction of my son’s killers was that they had to think twice about abusing their powers.

"Everyone rejoiced. This has gone up in smoke. The release of these guilty men is a retrograde step for the international perception of Kenya.”

Auma said if this has happened to people of means, what would happen tom poor Kenyans who seek justice?

“They have used a lot of resources for the last 13 years seeking justice but still the matter has been jangled up like this. I fear for that poor Kenyan whose kin gets killed by police,” he said.

(Edited by V. Graham)