A British man was shot dead on Sunday at a private ranch in the Laikipia, Kenya. The body of Mr. Tristan Voorspuy and carcass of the horse he was riding while touring the expansive property were found in the ranch hours after being missing with gunshots wounds, according to a report by the Daily Nation.
“The director had just returned from a trip to Nakuru and went straight to a scene where the herders had set ablaze two cottages last Friday. That is when he may have been ambushed by the herders,” Laikipia Police Commander Simon Kipkeu said
Senior ranch security officer Simon Eturen said Mr Voorspuy had been warned by the general manager, security managers and family not to go to the scene without security.
Invasions into ranches and conservancies by pastoralists in search of pasture have intensified in the area.
60 year old Voorspuy’s death on Sosian, a 24,000 acre ranch is the first of a white farmer since the invasions began.
According to the Telegraph, as many as 20 Kenyans have been killed, among them workers on white-owned farms. Some white ranchers have also been shot at and one black rancher was shot and wounded last year.
Some officials have blamed the land invasions on a severe drought that has made poor herders desperate but ranchers say they are politically-motivated and part of plans to take over their land.
