Friends and family from all over the world gathered on Monday in Diani to say their final farewells to Alexander Monson, the British tourist who died of a brain haemorrhage after being in police custody.

Whilst his father Nicholas Monson, eulogized his sons’ passing, the coastal police led by Ambrose Munyasia launched an investigation into Alexanders untimely death.

The ‘blame game’ continues….

An article in the Coastal Edition of the Standard reveals that the investigation so far has at least managed to take one witness statement, that of the man, originally called “Andrew” but now not named, who was arrested at the same time as Alexander Monson. “Andrew” and Alexander (and perhaps some others) it is reported, were arrested ‘in’ ‘or near’ to a car, which the police now reveal, contained syringes.

No wonder Nicholas Monson is so angry. Whilst the police by their own volition continue to investigate the ‘drugs’ angle, presumably to prove that the death could have been induced by harder drugs than bhang, the blunt force trauma injury and subsequent brain injury, i.e. the cause of death, confirmed by two separate pathology reports, seems to be overlooked.

Alexander Monson death: pathology reports prove it was by blunt force trauma

Nicholas Monson has said at length, that his son was most probably using recreational drugs. This is not the issue. The issue is that whilst in police custody Alexander Monson received a blow to the head sufficient to render him unconscious, and far from going to great lengths to save him (as was originally reported) the police at Diani put him ‘behind the counter’, ashen and barely breathing. It was only the cajoling of friends that got Alexander to hospital.

Meanwhile the police led by Munyasia accuse Nicholas Monson of hampering the investigation by using the press, rather than passing information to them “They should stop talking to us through the media” he declared, but, when asked by the Standard if he had made any efforts to meet with Nicholas Monson, he was not able to give an answer…

Whilst the police have failed to meet with family it seems the Minister of Tourism had more luck. With Nicholas Monson threatening to take private legal action against the Kenyan Government, unless the police came up with a swift solution, Dan Mwazo tourism minister met with him and asked for patience. Kenya is still a safe place for tourists he said, it was not the government but an individual who did this. Police reforms will ensure this never happens again… (we’d heard this all before Mr Mwazo)

Nicholas Monson obviously wasn’t convinced. Mwazo had not seen the postmortem report and Nicholas Monson said he would release it to the press, saying  “I think it is about time the rest of the world saw it,” and in a counter to Mwazo’s call for patience Monson expressed the fear that the slow pace of investigation could give the perpetrators an opportunity to tamper with evidence and cover their tracks.

“This does not give confidence to people who wish to come out to Kenya because they are scared now. Have you seen the press reports around the world?” Monson posed.

Whilst Nicholas Monson says he will not stop until justice has been seen to be done for his son Alexander,  Ambrose Munyasia has since stated that “We expect to make an announcement on this unfortunate case as early as next week.”

The Kenya Forum awaits that announcement with interest