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British pilot arrested in Kenya
26/05/2005 12:35 - (SA)
Nairobi - Kenyan police have arrested a British pilot who illegally tried to land his small plane this week near the farm of the prominent aristocrat accused of murdering a game warden, officials said.
The unauthorised appearance of the plane over the Central Rift Valley and a suspected link between the pilot and Thomas Cholmondeley, the son of the 5th Baron Delamere who was released from prison last week, has fuelled already-high tensions in the region.
The pilot of the Zimbabwe-registered Cessna aircraft, identified as Craig Wesley Hattle, was arrested in Nairobi after violating Kenyan airspace late on Tuesday attempting to land in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, police said.
Questioning the accused
Spotted by radar, air traffic controllers ordered Hattle to land in Nairobi where police said he told them he had been going to Naivasha, 90 kilometres northwest of the capital, to see acquaintances.
"We are questioning him as to why he decided to violate Kenyan airspace," one senior police official said. "He said he was going to visit friends in Naivasha."
Government spokesperson Alfred Mutua confirmed the incident had occurred but neither he nor the police official would discuss details or confirm a report that Hattle wanted to land at the vast Delamere ranch for unspecified reasons.
The police official said the incident was "too sensitive and could spark riots" when asked about an item on the website of Nairobi's Standard newspaper reporting that Hattle had been insistent about landing at the farm.
The Standard quoted security sources as saying authorities were suspicious of the pilot's motives and police had been informed that Cholmondeley, a Kenyan citizen, wanted to leave the country on a business trip.
Trial gets pulses racing
The Cholmondeley affair has made international headlines and caused a furore throughout in Kenya since it broke last month.
Cholmondeley, the great-grandson of one of Kenya's earliest and most prominent British settlers, has admitted to shooting the undercover Maasai game warden but insists he acted in self-defence thinking the man was a thief.
Prosecutors dropped murder charges against him last week citing a lack of evidence given conflicting accounts of the April 19 incident and released the aristocratic scion to the fury of many Kenyans.
Outraged Maasai warriors have threatened to attack the Delamere ranch unless Cholmondeley is tried for the murder of their fellow tribesman and human rights groups have said his release is indicative of favouritism shown to the powerful.
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