11:23am UK, Thursday May 14, 2009

A descendant of Kenya’s most famous white settlers has been sentenced to eight months in prison for the manslaughter of a black man on his vast estate.

Cholmondeley stands in the dock during his trial

The case has inflamed old tensions over land, race and privilege in the east African nation.

Thomas Cholmondeley was convicted of manslaughter last week over the 2006 shooting of 37-year-old Robert Njoya.

Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in Kenya.

“I hereby sentence the accused to eight months in prison,” Nairobi high court judge Muga Apondi said.

“I hereby wish… to impose a light sentence on the accused to allow him to reflect on his life.”

Judge Apondi said the killing was not premeditated, that Cholmondeley, 40, has shown concern for the victim at the time of the accident and that he has already spent 1,097 days in custody.

The Eton-educated aristocrat was convicted of manslaughter over Mr Njoya’s death in May 2006 at a trial.

But Cholmondeley has only admitted to shooting dogs on his 55,000-acre Rift Valley ranch.

It is the second such case against Cholmondeley – he was also accused of killing a wildlife ranger in 2005.

That case was dropped due to lack of evidence, triggering an outcry and suggestions from many Kenyans that their nation still had two sets of laws – one for the rich and one for the poor.

The flamboyant lifestyle of the original Lord Delamere and other wealthy white settlers from central Kenya’s “Happy Valley” set inspired a book and the 1987 film “White Mischief”.