A Kenyan magistrate's court on Friday set free four Kenyans accused of murdering a renowned British wildlife photographer in Naivasha, about 80 km northwest of Nairobi.
The 69-year-old Joan Wells Root was shot in her bed by an intruder armed with an AK-47 rifle during an apparent robbery at her home in January 2006.
Magistrate Nicholas Njagi ordered the release of David Chege, Joseph Ndung'u, Philip Mutuku and Allan Githenji due to what he termed as "defective charges."
The magistrate the charge against the accused was defective from the start of the case, adding that the investigations were poorly done.
"From the word go, the charge against the accused was defective, " the magistrate ruled and then ordered the release of the accused.
Root was a renowned conservationist and had collaborated with her husband Alan Root in making of many celebrated films about African wildlife.
The killing was the latest in a series of attacks on farmers and descendants of white settlers in the Naivasha area.
The four accused were identified by a sniffer dog which picked up their scent from the crime scene and followed it to their home.
A guard at the filmmaker's home, some 90 km from the Kenyan capital Nairobi had reported seeing two people breaking into the residence in the early hours of that fateful day.
Root's death and the ensuing trial have fuelled tension between the local population and white farmers.
Two bullets were recovered from the filmmaker's body following a postmortem examination conducted in Nairobi at the time of her death.
Source: Xinhua
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