G4S guards charged over brutal attack on Kenya's Del Monte compound

Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of graphic violence.

When Duncan Ndegwa woke up in a dense thicket in a rural part of Kenya that was said to attract hyenas, he believed his attackers had wanted to kill him. The last thing he remembered was being beaten and kicked in a small room where he thought he was dying of pain.

The previous evening, the 55-year-old pump operator was on his way home at around 7 p.m. after visiting his family. He was riding his motorcycle along a public road that runs through a pineapple farm owned by fruit giant Del Monte when he saw security forces chasing suspected thieves.

The huge plantation lies on the border of Murang'a and Kiambu counties, about 40 km northeast of Nairobi. It has been the scene of numerous allegations of violence and killings by Del Monte's security forces, which were first uncovered by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Guardian in June last year.

Tensions have been high for years with the local population, which suffers from poverty and unemployment, and many groups, mostly young men, have gone to the farm to steal fruit. The farm's security operations are now carried out by UK-based contractor G4S.

Ndegwa claims he was mistaken for a pineapple thief and attacked by a group of G4S guards. He told TBIJ and The Nation that they took off his boots and beat him with batons and sticks: “When I felt overwhelmed by the beating, I started begging them to take me to the police station if I was actually a pineapple thief Instead, he said, they confiscated his motorcycle and led him barefoot several kilometers to a country house where the attack continued.