Why Did A White Kenyan Aristocrat Only Get 8 Months For Killing A Black Poacher?!!

I did an extensive post not too long ago about Thomas Cholmondeley.He is one of Kenya's most famous white aristocrats who has killed twice.And has basically gotten away with it!This man has been given a ridiculously "light sentence" for murdering a black poacher with his rifle.

Because he has been in custody for 3 yrs,the judge in this case decided that he should only be given a 8-month sentence!There is justifiable outrage in Kenya over the judge's decision.Even though the judge denies it,I'm pretty damn sure that Cholmondeley's societal position influenced his decision.

Here's more from Yahoo News:

"In a case that stirred fierce resentments over race and land, a Kenyan judge on Thursday sentenced the son of a baron to eight months in prison for killing a black poacher on his vast family estate.

The sentence handed down to Thomas Cholmondeley — a fraction of the possible life in prison he faced — provoked shouts of protest from Maasai tribesmen and sighs of relief from white landowners, both of whom packed into the crowded courtroom.

Judge Muga Apondi last week convicted Cholmondeley of manslaughter in the 2006 shooting of a 37-year-old black poacher, Robert Njoya. The judge had reduced the charge down from murder, saying he believed Cholmondeley's attempts to give Njoya first aid helped prove that he accidentally shot the poacher when aiming at his dogs.

On Thursday, the judge said he took the three years Cholmondeley had already served into account, concluding, "I hereby wish to impose a light sentence on the accused to allow him to reflect on his life."

Cholmondeley's parents, Lord and Lady Delamere, listened to the verdict along with Sarah Njoya, the widow of the dead poacher, and traditionally dressed Maasai activists whose elongated earlobes brushed the traditional red-checked blankets they wore.

The sentence provoked immediate protests from the public gallery, where women wrapped in colorful cloths wearing traditional beaded jewelry waved signs depicting guns and dead bodies.

"We want justice," read one.

The tall, bespectacled Cholmondeley, who has been imprisoned in squalid conditions since his arrest in May 2006, will return to the maximum security prison, defense lawyer Fred Ojiambo said.

The prosecution said it would consider appealing the sentence, which Ojiambo described as "very just."

Njoya's death was the second time in just over a year that Cholmondeley had shot and killed a black man on his largely ungated farm. The first shooting did not come to trial, sparking protests from locals who said there had been high-level government intervention in the case.

Grievances raised by the case reach far beyond the Cholmondeley family. Some Kenyans resent all white farmers as symbols of the British colonists who stole land from local tribes."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.