Kenyan Freed in Slaying of Conservationist
A Kenyan herdsman was acquitted Thursday of murdering 82-year-old British conservationist George Adamson three years ago at the remote game reserve he founded with his wife, Joy Adamson, author of “Born Free.”
Judge Joseph Mango said the testimony of a single witness was not sufficient to convict the defendant, Ahmed Abdi Shurie, 32, and ordered him freed.
“It would be a fatal miscarriage of justice if this court relied on evidence of one witness said to have been present when heavily armed Somali poachers ambushed Adamson and his two servants, all of whom were killed in a hail of gunfire in broad daylight,” the judge said.
Mohammed Bacha, an employee of Adamson, had identified Shurie as one of the men who opened fire on Adamson and two other employees on the Kora game reserve in northeastern Kenya on Aug. 20, 1989.
Adamson and his wife kept orphaned and zoo-raised big cats, particularly lions, before returning them to the wild.
Joy Adamson, who wrote several books about their experiences, was murdered by a servant in 1980.
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