OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nairobi | Tuesday 11.00pm.
THE trial of a retired Kenyan Wildlife Services officer, Simon Ole Makallah, opened in Nairobi on Tuesday, 10 years after the murder of British tourist Julie Ward in the Masai Mara Game Reserve in south-western Kenya.
Makallah, 48, is charged with killing Ward, 28, who disappeared from from her hotel in the reserve in 1988. Her charred and multilated body, with her legs hacked off and skull smashed, was later found on a dry river bed.
Makallah was the head warden at the game park at the time of the murder and was first arraigned before the Nairobi Chief Magistrates Court 21 July. He was not asked to enter a plea and was ordered to remain in police custody until investigations were completed.
In 1989, Kenya allowed Scotland Yard detectives to investigate the murder. Their investigations culminated in the 1992 trial of two junior game wardens — John Magiroi and Peter Kipeen — from the reserve. Makallah was one of the key witnesses during the trial of the two, who were later acquitted in 1996 for lack of evidence.
Judge Fidahussein Abdalla (deceased) who acquitted the two recommended further investigations into Makallah’s role in the killing.