A court in Kwale has cleared two British nationals charged with the murder of a British soldier in 2013.
Sergeant Major John Marley passed on after coming into contact with a faulty lamp that had reportedly been left unattended to in his hotel room in Diani.
Thomas Sollacher, who is the CEO and owner of Diani Marine Limited together with Edoardo Vasta, a former diving instructor at the Marine Divers Village, had been charged with negligence and causing death of the military man, who was attached to the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) at the Nanyuki base.
Kwale Chief Magistrate Doreen Mulekyo ruled that, although the soldier passed away at the hotel, the duo cannot be held responsible for his death. “The prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond any reasonable doubt and, therefore, I acquit both the accused,” she ruled.
The magistrate noted that the 15 prosecution witnesses presented before the court contradicted each other, rendering the prosecution case weak. She further said that a post-mortem examination report of the victim was never tabled in the court. “Witnesses from Kenya Power were never called on this case,” Mulyeko ruled further.
