Del Monte Sued Over Torture, Death Claims

Two advocacy groups and individuals alleging to be victims of brutality by guards at the expansive food processing firm, Del Monte, have sued the pineapple plantation company seeking compensation.

The two organisations claim in the petition filed at the High Court that communities living in the areas surrounding the expansive farm have been brutalised and others killed by guards yet the company has allegedly failed to address their concerns or conduct investigations.

They said members of the community have been using access roads and paths traversing through the land held by Del Monte for centuries to reach social amenities in the nearby Thika town, leading to conflicts with the firm’s security personnel.

In the process, they claimed, the guards have assaulted, beaten, tortured, maimed, raped and in some instances, killed trespassers.

“The Honourable Court be pleased to issue a declaratory order to the effect that the right to life, the prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, the right to security of the person, the right to protection of the law… were violated in relation to the 3rd to 12th petitioners and the class of persons they represent,” said the petition.