The heir to Kenya's most famous white settler family was acquitted today of murdering a local poacher but found guilty of manslaughter.
In a case highlighting the east African nation's delicate colonial legacy, the High Court said Tom Cholmondeley - descendant of Lord Delamere who came to Kenya from Britain a century ago - did not show "malice aforethought" but was responsible for the 2006 shooting of Robert Njoya on the family's 55,000-acre ranch.
Justice Muga Apondi said sentencing would be given at a later day. Cholmondeley faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The long-running trial has touched on deep sensibilities over race and ownership inequities in the east African country.
The judge said he was sympathetic to Cholmondeley's argument of self-defence in the faceoff with Njoya after finding him pursuing wildlife with dogs on the family's property near Lake Naivasha in Kenya's Great Rift Valley.
"The survival principle is very basic to human beings," Mr Apondi said, before announcing the charge was being reduced.
Chomondeley (40) stood impassive as the judgment was read. His relatives and girlfriend in the courtroom cried after the outcome. "I am shocked, amazed and dumbstruck. This is not acceptable," defence lawyer Fred Ojiambo said. "We will appeal. There is no doubt about that."
Mr Njoya's widow Sarah, a mother-of-four, said she was satisfied with the judgment, but needed help to escape poverty.
The trial was the second such case against the Eton-educated aristocrat, also accused of killing a wildlife ranger in 2005. That case was dropped for lack of evidence, triggering an outcry and suggestions from many Kenyans that their nation still had two sets of laws - one for whites and one for blacks.
Reuters