AN innocent man who was sentenced to death following the 2011 murder of a British tourist has had his conviction overturned at the Kenyan High Court.
Ali Kololo was convicted of robbery with violence in 2013, after David Tebbutt was shot dead by suspected pirates.
His sentence, later commuted to life imprisonment, has now been quashed.
Mr Tebbutt’s wife, Jude – who has supported Mr Kololo’s fight for justice – said she was “overjoyed”.
Mr Tebbutt and his wife Jude were staying at a secluded beachside resort on the Kenyan coast in 2011, when they came under attack by pirates. Mr Tebbutt was killed and Mrs Tebbutt was held hostage in nearby Somalia for six months. She was only released after her adult son, Olly, negotiated a ransom deal.
Following Ali Kololo’s exoneration, Mrs Tebbutt – who has always maintained that he was not part of the gang that murdered her husband and campaigned for his release – said barely a day had gone by over the past decade when she had not thought of him.
“I’m not able to tell him face to face, but if I could, I would like to say: ‘Ali I am so sorry that this happened to you and that you, your family and children have suffered so much.
“‘What happened to you was not right and [was] unfair, but I hope that over time you can all make a life for yourselves and find peace,'” Mrs Tebbutt said.
