KENYA: The great-grandson of one of Kenya's most famous settlers was in custody yesterday after shooting dead an alleged poacher on his family's vast Rift Valley estate, just a year after killing an undercover game warden.
The honourable Tom Cholmondeley (38) was arrested on Wednesday night after telling police that he had fired at a party of poachers and their dogs.
"According to Tom the suspect was conducting illegal trade in the farm when the shooting incident occurred," said Simon Kiragu, Naivasha police commander.
The shooting is already the focus of intense national interest following the furore last year when the director of public prosecutions ordered a murder charge to be dropped. Then Mr Cholmondeley, heir to the fifth Lord Delamere, admitted killing an armed, undercover wildlife ranger but insisted that he acted in self-defence.
Nationwide protests followed the decision not to prosecute the Kenyan-born aristocrat, who was accused of receiving preferential treatment at the hands of the courts.
Police sources said yesterday they would take great pains to conduct a thorough investigation of the death of Robert Wambugu on Wednesday night, to avoid a similar outcry.
Detectives spent the day scouring a bloody patch of undergrowth at the Delamere family's Soysambu ranch, which covers 100,000 acres of land in the Great Rift Valley, some 55 miles north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. They recovered a bow and five arrows, as well as Mr Cholmondeley's rifle.
It is understood that Mr Cholmondeley had taken a friend Carl Tundo, a well-known Kenyan rally driver, to view a possible site for a new home on Wednesday evening.
They left their four-wheel drive vehicle at the end of a dirt track before pushing on through the thick acacia bushes on foot at about 6pm.
The spot chosen for Mr Tundo's home lay close to the top of an escarpment, looking out across the still waters of Lake Elmenteita.
But as they made their way through the acacia scrub they happened upon what they believed to be a poaching party - five or six men armed with bows and arrows, carrying a dead impala with a pack of about eight snarling dogs.
Mr Cholmondeley opened fire killing two of the dogs and hitting one of the suspected poachers in the pelvic region.
He and Mr Tundo carried the injured man to their vehicle before driving him to hospital in Nakuru, but Mr Wambugu was dead on arrival, according to Andrew Musangi, Mr Cholmondeley's solicitor.
"Obviously he is shocked at what has happened so soon after the last incident," added Mr Musangi.
Close friends insisted the death was an accident. Sally Dudmesh, who has been his lover since Mr Cholmondeley separated from his wife last year, said she was horrified at the tragic turn of events.
"Tom was shooting at the dogs. The poachers ran and one was left hiding in the bush, so Tom had no idea there was one hiding in the bush," she said.
"It's incredibly unfortunate for something like this to happen to poor Tom after what happened last year."
The Delameres are one of the most famous British settler families in Kenya.
The third Lord Delamere, Mr Cholmondeley's great-grandfather, arrived at the end of the 19th century buying up huge tracts of land in the Great Rift Valley.
He encouraged other European farmers to follow suit and the area soon became known as "Happy Valley", infamous for its gin-fuelled excesses.
However, things began to change after the 1941 murder of Josslyn Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll.
The exploits of the "Happy Valley" set were plastered all over the newspapers of Europe during the subsequent trial and acquittal of Jock Broughton.
The episode was later retold by James Fox in his book White Mischief, and made into a film starring Joss Ackland.
Today the "Happy Valley" image is long gone. Residents talk of a wave of carjackings and murders that has spread through the region from Nairobi.
Many of the region's white farmers felt sympathy with Mr Cholmondeley's predicament last year, saying it was safer to shoot first and ask questions later when armed strangers strayed on to your land.
However, that case split Kenya along race lines with many of the country's black population convinced that the courts were offering preferential treatment to the country's colonial elite.
Yesterday, a small crowd of friends and relatives of the dead man gathered at Nakuru central police station where Mr Cholmondeley was being held.
Philip Mbugua said his brother had never been involved in poaching and that it was now time for Mr Cholmondeley to face justice.
"He did not go to prison last time, but now my brother is gone and he has a wife and young ones - so something must be done," he said.