Death at pineapple farms: Violence, torture and killings with impunity by Del Monte guards
Burnice Kagori Maina holds a photo of her son Saidi Ndung’u who was reportedly killed by Del Monte guards.
Stephen Thuo Nyoike’s battered body was found by the side of the road. He was just 22. “He had been strangled with a wire. And there was a pineapple near the body,” a witness said.
Locals say Nyoike was beaten with clubs by guards working for the food giant Del Monte. A post-mortem showed the cause of death as strangulation and blunt-force trauma to the head.
Injuries to the wrists indicated his hands had been tied. “Nyoike was a good child,” said his father, Joel Thuo.
His son had been taking welding lessons for over a year and planned to set up a workshop.
On the night of August 30, 2022, he was killed after taking part in a botched pineapple raid on Del Monte’s megafarm outside Thika.
Attempts to steal fruits – often involving young men storming the premises on motorbikes – have become a semi-regular at the plantation, a symptom and cause of escalating tensions between villagers living in poverty and the company whose sprawling farm dominates the area.
Nyoike’s body was next to a road outside of the farm when Mr Thuo arrived on the scene the next morning. “He was lying face-down. I turned him over and saw injuries on his forehead. It also appeared like he had been strangled with wire,” he said.
Two men who reportedly were with Nyoike on the pineapple raid said they were ambushed by guards at the plantation.
“I looked back and saw guards with torches. I heard a harsh voice shouting: ‘Catch! Catch! Kill!’,” one said, adding that he hid in the bush and watched helplessly as the Del Monte workers assaulted Nyoike.
He said the beating went on for about half an hour until Nyoike went quiet. His motionless body was then loaded onto a Del Monte pick-up truck.
Joel Thuo stands near his son's grave in Murang’a County. Stephen Thuo Nyoike was reportedly killed by Delmonte security guards.
As Mr Thuo and other villagers gathered around the body the following day, they noticed a group of Del Monte guards watching them from across the road.
The second man said he was shocked at seeing his friend’s body. “I have witnessed other killings on the farm but Nyoike’s was extreme,” he said.
Nyoike is one of six people said to have been killed by Del Monte guards in the last 10 years. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Guardian have documented claims of violence perpetrated by guards on the farm, which supplies Del Monte’s pineapples to Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and other UK retailers.
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The scale of the accusations has been captured by the law firm Leigh Day in a letter to Del Monte, detailing 146 incidents involving 134 locals over 10 years.
It includes claims of five deaths since 2019 as well as dozens of serious injuries and beatings. The report includes five rape claims.
Del Monte said it takes the allegations “extremely seriously” and that it has instituted a full and urgent investigation.
The firm added that the conduct – if true – “is in clear violation of our longstanding commitment to human rights and the policies and procedures we have in place”.
Tesco says it has suspended orders on products sourced from the farm until an investigation is concluded.
Waitrose said it expects its suppliers to comply with strict ethical standards and that it welcomed Del Monte’s review.
The British Retail Consortium, the body that represents UK supermarkets, said it welcomes Del Monte’s investigation and its “commitment to constant improvement in working practices”.
Del Monte’s 80-square-kilometre plantation is on the border of Murang’a and Kiambu counties, about 40 kilometres northeast of Nairobi.
The landscape is marked with lush vegetation and rich red soil but the area is also blighted by poverty, joblessness and drug use.
This deprivation is despite the money generated by Del Monte, whose pineapple exports earned the country more than $100 million in foreign exchange in 2018.
This financial firepower has provided the company with a political clout. Among locals, the vast farm is described as kwa guuka, meaning “our grandfather’s”.
A section of the expansive Del Monte farm. Guards patrolling the farm are accused of extreme violence on trespassers and suspected pineapple thieves.
It is a bitter reference to the fact that many families were evicted from the land when it was acquired by the company’s predecessor decades ago.
Largest exporter
The firm is the single largest exporter of Kenyan produce. Though countless tonnes of pineapples are grown in the area every year, almost all the fruits sold locally are those stolen from the farm.
“Local boys have little to do yet they need money for survival. The easiest way to get money is through raiding the farm, stealing pineapples and selling to the public,” Mr Thuo said. “It is mostly driven by peer pressure and poverty.”
These conditions are in stark contrast with the lifestyle enjoyed by the 237 guards hired by Del Monte. The guards have fully equipped schools, hospitals and sports grounds on Del Monte premises. Their job is to patrol the farm with the aid of watchtowers, drones and dogs.
Guards also victims
The guards have been subject to violence themselves. Thieves throw stones at them, with one guard losing an eye recently. They work round-the-clock shifts in green four-wheel pick-up trucks, occasionally accompanied by police officers.
Ngati police station is located on the farm, close to Del Monte staff quarters.
Del Monte is the biggest private-sector employer in the country.
But it hires many of its labourers on a casual basis. In January last year, Del Monte workers went on strike, an action labelled “illegal” by the firm.
Nyoike’s mother, Grace Mbinya, is too traumatised to visit her son’s grave in the family land. The grave is surrounded by banana plants.
She deleted photos of Nyoike from her phone.
“He was a model boy, doing any house chores given. He prepared the family dinner on the eve of his death. We sat talking a lot of things till late. He promised to buy us a piece of land,” she said.
“They should have just arrested and sent him to prison. Now I will never see him or his children.” None of the young men who were with Nyoike on the fateful night reported the assault to the police.
“You can’t dare go to the police. You will be promptly arrested,” one said.
A senior police officer was unable to explain why there have been no investigations eight months after Nyoike’s death. Dogged by poverty and the belief that Del Monte is too big to be sued, many families never pursue justice for injuries and deaths at the hands of guards.
Even when action is taken, the wheels of justice turn painfully slow.
Bernard Murigi Wanginye, a quarry worker, was 26 when he died after joining a pineapple raid in April 2019. When his father, Gilbert, went to the mortuary to identify the body, he fainted.
“His head was badly damaged and I couldn’t look at him for long. I just walked out,” Wanginye’s mother – Alice – said.
Gilbert said his son was the pillar of the family. “I get dejected when I remember him,” he said.
Indiscriminate attacks
Five guards, who have since been dismissed by Del Monte, were charged with Wanginye’s killing. They pleaded not guilty in July 2019. That same month, a judge directed that the trial be speeded up but four years later Gilbert is still waiting for justice.
The guards appeared in court for another hearing on April 27 this year. A new hearing date was given for September 5.
Gilbert was not in court and was not told of the new date.
“There is no justice for my son. I urge people and organisations out there to assist us to get justice,” Alice said.
Del Monte says it has improved its security and safety practices since Wanginye’s death in 2019.
Improvements are said to include updated radio communication systems, training guards in new formal rules of engagement and enhanced formal processes around claims of violence.
Ms Burnice Kagori Maina is another distraught parent. “In vain I plead with them. I am in a lot of pain,” said Ms Maina of the day she heard that her son had been killed.
Gilbert Wanginye and his Wife Alice whose son is said to have been killed by guards.
It has been 10 years since the body of Ms Maina’s son, Saidi Ngotho Ndung’u, was retrieved from a dam at the farm.
The discovery, in May 2013, added fuel to decades-long rumours of dams at Del Monte farms being used to hide the bodies of missing locals.
Two people who said they were with Ndung’u on the night of his killing testified in a lengthy inquest. It was not a criminal case.
Ms Maina had no idea what was happening, believing her son’s court case was frozen for no reason.
According to a witness statement provided to police two days after the body was found, Ndung’u was chased by Del Monte guards. They then beat him badly.
The witness claims to have heard Ndung’u plead with the guards not to kill him before hearing “something thrown into the dam”.
Though the death certificate says Ndung’u drowned, one resident says there were visible injuries to his face when his body was pulled out of the water.
Apart from violence against trespassers, the guards have also been accused of indiscriminate attacks.
These include an incident on the evening of September 25, 2021, when a minibus with 14 people from a party broke down on a public road on the farm. Witnesses said the guards set upon the wedding party, leaving many with serious injuries.
“I pleaded with the security guards,” said a man whose leg was broken in the violence.
“I told them we were not there to steal pineapples but my pleas fell on deaf ears.”
The Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) is investigating an attack by guards on two men as they slept on a road next to the farm in December 2022.
One of the men was John Rui Karia, a 52-year-old former labourer on the farm, who had turned to selling grass after being dismissed.
“We ran to help but the guards were fast,” said Boniface Nduva, who was working near the road shovelling sand.
“They started beating them. Karia, who was the older of the two men, started screaming,” said Dennis Mutiso, a grass seller who also witnessed the assault.
“I took off and heard the men being bundled onto a Del Monte vehicle. The guards stamped on them.”
The beatings reportedly continued at a nearby Del Monte security office before Karia was taken to Ngoliba police station, where he arrived in critical condition.
He was then taken to a clinic on the plantation and given painkillers. He was taken to court in a Del Monte security vehicle the next morning.
Two witnesses said Karia had to be helped to alight from the vehicle. One said he started vomiting and coughing blood outside the court.
Karia was said to have been told by an accompanying officer that he would appear in court even if he died. He pleaded guilty.
After a week at Thika prison, Karia was taken to Thika Hospital on December 28 but died on arrival.
Autopsy
A pathologist’s report revealed the extent of his injuries, including multiple contusions of the abdomen, lungs and brain. Karia also had defence injuries to the forearms.
His cause of death is listed as “injury due to multiple blunt force trauma to the head” as well as “abdominal and multiple soft tissue injuries”.
Locals said the attack on Karia was unprovoked. Mr Nduva said the men were not stealing anything when the guards accosted them.
“Anyone buying these pineapples should know that locals have suffered,” said Mary Kambo of the KHRC.
“Markets and consumers have a lot of power and leverage. Whatever is happening should be made public.”
A spokesperson for Del Monte said the company takes the allegations “extremely seriously”.
“We have instituted a full and urgent investigation. The conduct alleged in these cases is in clear violation of Fresh Del Monte’s long-standing commitment to human rights and the comprehensive policies and procedures we have in place to ensure our operations respect the dignity of all individuals,” the spokesperson said.
“Our proactive investigations continue and will be supported by an independent review by a specialist human rights consultancy. We continue to fully support the Kenyan authorities’ investigations, including into the death of Karia. We are committed to constant improvements in the way we operate to adhere to the highest international human rights standards in our businesses.”
For the families of the victims, the wheels of justice appear to be turning very slowly.
None of the six deaths linked to the Del Monte farm has resulted in a conviction.
Ironically, Kenya’s justice system has shown itself to be capable of acting firmly and ruthlessly on one matter.
Villagers found guilty of stealing pineapples have received lengthy prison sentences.
In 2008, three men were taken to court for attempted theft from Del Monte farm of 30 pineapples valued at approximately Sh2,500. They were found guilty of robbery with violence and sentenced to death.
Nyoike’s father, Thuo, says he has no hope of getting justice.
“They (Del Monte guards) do not value life. They only value pineapples,” he said.
