Company distances itself from farm violence

Fresh Del Monte has claimed it should not be held liable for a civil lawsuit alleging killing, rape and violence by security guards at its Kenyan pineapple farm because it is domiciled in the Cayman Islands.

- Edwin Okoth and Emily Dugan

In the high court in Thika last Thursday, lawyers for the company's Kenyan subsidiary, Del Monte Kenya, also applied to have a case against the farm struck out altogether.

A civil claim was filed in Kenya on 30 December against Fresh Del Monte and Del Monte Kenya by a group of human rights organisations on behalf of 10 individuals. It describes "conflicts with the security personnel deployed by Del Monte, who assault, beat, torture, maim, rape and/or kill the trespassers" on the 40 sq km farm.

The court hearing followed revelations in the Guardian that representatives of Del Monte Kenya were accused of offering bribes in an attempt to cover up the circumstances in which four men died after going to steal pineapples from its farm in December. The report was part of an investigation with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism into allegations of violence and killings by the farm's guards.