Alexander Monson, 28, the son of British aristocrat Nicholas Monson, was arrested for allegedly smoking cannabis, known locally as bhang, outside a bar in the Diani beach resort in May 2012.[1][2] He was held overnight at Diani police station and died on 19 May 2012 at Palm Beach Hospital after being transferred there unconscious.[1][2] His family maintained that he was beaten to death in custody, while police claimed he died of a drug overdose.[1]
The oversight authority later rejected the overdose account, finding that drugs were put into his pockets after he died.[2] Its investigation, the first admitted by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority after its creation, began on 11 June 2013, established criminal culpability in 2014, and led to a public inquest in which a Mombasa court ruled on 23 June 2018 that four officers should face trial.[2]
Manslaughter verdict and sentences
On 15 November 2021 a Mombasa High Court judge convicted the four officers of manslaughter, holding that Monson was tortured outside the cells inside the station compound and that the officers negligently failed to get him medical help.[1][2] The court said the movement was not recorded in the occurrence book and that circumstantial evidence proved manslaughter even though the individual who inflicted the injuries was not identified.[2]
Sergeant Naftali Chege was jailed for fifteen years with five suspended, Chief Inspector Charles Munyiri for twelve years with six suspended, Constable Ismael Baraka for nine years with five suspended, and Constable John Pamba for twelve years with six suspended.[1][2] Pamba was unwell and was allowed to start serving his sentence the next November.[1] Monson’s father Lord Nicholas Monson attended court and said justice had been served but called the terms lenient.[1]
