There has been a breakthrough in relation to the murder of popular Galway photographer Trent Keegan as a man has been charged by Kenyan police.
Mr Keegan’s badly beaten body was found in a ditch in the Kenyan captal on May 28, 2008. The New Zealand native had moved to Nairobi just three months previously, having spent a number of years living in Galway where he worked for numerous media companies, including the Galway Advertiser newspaper group.
According to reports, investigating police have charged Hesbon Amadade with the murder of Mr Keegan. It is also believed that a documentary by Ron Harley about Mr Keegan’s killing led to Amadade.
Two other men had been charged with robbery and assaulting Mr Keegan with violence but were acquitted by a court in Nairobi earlier this year. This had prompted the photographer’s family to fear that the people responsible would never be caught.
There have been many questions posed over whether Mr Keegan’s death was a random mugging and concerns have been raised about whether the photographer may have died because of a connection to the work he was doing in Tanzania.
The 33-year-old’s attackers stole his laptop and camera but his wallet, which contained a substantial amount of cash, was left untouched. Two weeks before his death, Mr Keegan had been investigating allegations that a US safari company had been mistreating Maasai people in neighbouring Tanzania.
Mr Keegan’s family are hoping that the mystery behind the death may finally be revealed when the hearing takes place in Kenyan courts next month.
