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would draw the conclusion that injuries caused were likely to result in death. For manslaughter the same test was required, though without the intent to kill. Grievous hurt was an act of physical harm that endangered life and simple hurt was a lesser charge, that of the intentional causing of any
158:
returned one guilty verdict for grievous hurt and two on lesser charges of simple hurt. Hawkins received a sentence of two years' imprisonment, relatively harsh for the offences he was convicted of but much less than would be expected had
Hawkins been convicted on more serious charges.
257:
During the trial
Maxwell described Hawkins' actions as "utterly heartless, callous brutality". However the entirely European and male jury returned guilty verdicts only on one charge of grievous hurt and two of simple hurt. Maxwell noted in his
313:, which made him unpopular among the European population, reduced the discretion available to judges on sentencing. European public opinion in the colony remained strongly in favour of harsh treatment to black Kenyans for decades.
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charges. For a charge of murder to be proved the code required that the jury be certain that there was an intention to kill, to cause injuries "sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death" or that a
309:. The Indian Penal Code was replaced in 1930 and its peculiar treatment of murder and battery charges removed, reducing the scope for juries to show leniency to men accused of murder. Later reforms under Governor
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on a conviction for grievous hurt, Maxwell imposed a custodial sentence. He imposed two concurrent jail terms, amounting to an overall sentence of two years of "rigorous" imprisonment.
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The three men were subsequently interrogated, beaten and tortured by
Kisanda, sometimes assisted by Hawkins. The torture included the crushing of their fingers in a
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The case was widely reported in the local press and a subscription was raised among
European settlers to meet the cost of a trial. The case was brought before the
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that the evidence against
Hawkins might have been more damning if Kisanda had survived to testify. Perhaps mindful of recent criticism from the press and
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and a black Kenyan policeman, Kisanda, was dispatched. Hawkins and
Kisanda detained three of Hawkins' black employees: Mucheru, Richu and Kamanyu.
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black woman to extract information relating to the theft. One of the employees, Mucheru, died during the torture and the woman later miscarried.
259:
351:
Anderson, David M. (September 2011). "Punishment, Race and 'The Raw Native': Settler
Society and Kenya's Flogging Scandals, 1895–1930".
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of 1923 ordered that the interests of black
Kenyans be placed above those of European settlers, but had little practical effect.
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202:). On 5 May 1920 he discovered money and documents were missing from his home. Hawkins alerted his nearest police station at
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in August 1920 at
Nairobi under Judge Thomas Doveton Maxwell. Hawkins was charged with one count of murder and three of
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213:. A pregnant black woman was also "thrashed" by Hawkins, in an attempt to extract information. The woman later
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by
European settlers in Kenya. Numerous attempts at reform eventually saw the replacement of the colony's
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to attempt to restrict the practice, to little avail as the governors sided with the settlers. The
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over the widespread practice in Kenya of Europeans flogging their black employees. Successive
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settler Langley Hawkins discovered money and documents were missing from his house in
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Kenya at that time, unusually for a British territory in Africa, operated under the
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The case was one of a number of similar outcomes that raised concern in the British
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The Hawkins case and similar cases such as that of Watts and Betchart in 1918 and
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and other measures to restrict the discretion allowed to juries and judges in
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Clayton, Anthony; Savage, Donald Cockfield (12 November 2012).
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Eventually legal reform was achieved with pressure from the
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for lenient sentencing in similar cases, such as the 1918
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198:of the East Africa Protectorate (present-day
139:three of Hawkins' black male employees and a
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16:1920 court case in British East Africa
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98:One count of murder, three counts of
353:Journal of Southern African Studies
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135:and the pair proceeded to beat and
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270:for which the men received only a
240:. This allowed a sliding scale of
190:Langley Hawkins was a settler, of
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166:over the widespread practice of
146:The policeman, Kisanda, died by
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268:Watts and Betchart murder case
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418:Ingham, Kenneth; et al.
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451:Human rights abuses in Kenya
365:10.1080/03057070.2011.602887
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466:Anti-black racism in Africa
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24:Langley Hawkins murder case
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397:. Routledge. p. 118.
217:. On 8 May, Mucheru died.
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125:East Africa Protectorate
52:East Africa Protectorate
37:East Africa Protectorate
461:Discrimination in Kenya
424:Encyclopædia Britannica
74:1 (+ a related suicide)
456:Legal history of Kenya
300:Devonshire White Paper
284:Jasper Abraham in 1923
131:policeman from nearby
109:Thomas Doveton Maxwell
471:1920 murders in Kenya
286:, raised concern in
296:governors of Kenya
404:978-1-136-27506-7
251:reasonable person
238:Indian Penal Code
172:Indian Penal Code
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192:European descent
127:. He summoned a
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90:Langley Hawkins
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359:(3): 479–497.
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54:(present-day
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429:16 September
427:. Retrieved
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87:Perpetrator
35:Map of the
445:Categories
317:References
260:summing-up
227:High Court
215:miscarried
66:5 May 1920
373:143999794
294:wrote to
278:Aftermath
154:. A male
242:homicide
186:Incident
168:flogging
141:pregnant
44:Location
420:"Kenya"
246:battery
182:cases.
180:battery
148:suicide
137:torture
95:Charges
79:Injured
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371:
288:London
254:pain.
176:murder
71:Deaths
369:S2CID
221:Trial
204:Ruiru
200:Kenya
194:, in
133:Ruiru
106:Judge
56:Kenya
431:2022
399:ISBN
272:fine
244:and
211:vice
178:and
63:Date
361:doi
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381:^
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357:37
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325:^
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