Peter Poole
Peter Poole (c.1932––18 August 1960 in Nairobi, Kenya) was a British-born Kenyan engineer and shop owner. He was the only white in Kenya to be executed for killing an indigenous African person.[1][2]
On 12 October 1959 he was charged with killing Kamawe Musunge, his houseboy,[1] in Gordon Road, Nairobi. Musunge had been riding a bicycle when Poole's two dogs stopped him. Musunge threw stones at one dog, for which Poole shot him dead with a Luger pistol.[3] Poole was executed on 18 August 1960. At the time Kenya was still under British rule, and the verdict was received dismally by some white settlers in the region.[3]
Poole had emigrated to Kenya from Essex and was an engineer by profession.[4] He owned an electrical shop on Nairobi's Government Road (now Moi Avenue).[2] Poole served in the British Army during the Mau Mau Uprising.[1] Poole was married with two children.
See also
- Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley, white Kenyan found guilty of manslaughter
References
- ^ a b c "KENYA: White Man Hangs - TIME". content.time.com. August 29, 1960. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- ^ a b Mwaura, Peter (7 May 2009). "Year when all men became equal at the end of a rope - News - nation.co.ke". nation.co.ke. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- ^ a b Christine Stephanie Nicholls: Red strangers: the white tribe of Kenya Timewell Press, 2005. ISBN 1-85725-206-3
- ^ Truecrimelibrary.com: Peter Poole – Kenya