Killings continue on Del Monte farm in Kenya, families say, after G4S hired for security
Bereaved families and politicians have raised alarm about continued killings on Del Monte’s pineapple farm in Kenya despite the company hiring G4S to replace its in-house security team after previous deaths were exposed by the Guardian. Del Monte appointed G4S to guard the farm, which is estimated to cover at least 40 sq km, the area of a small city, after the Guardian detailed allegations of brutal assaults and killings of people suspected of trespassing on its land. Kenyan police have been working with G4S to guard the site. Three men, including two brothers, were killed in separate incidents over the past year allegedly involving G4S guards. Stephen Marubu Kibandi, 34, was shot in the chest from close range by a police officer working alongside G4S guards last August after they claimed to have been attacked. The victim put his hands up in surrender before being shot, according to a witness. His brother, 27-year-old Haron Kame Kibandi, died in April this year after allegedly being struck on the head by stones thrown by G4S guards and falling from a motorbike. A third man, 31-year-old Michael Muiruri, was killed after being knocked off a motorbike by a G4S pickup truck. In 2023, the Guardian revealed allegations about the killing of four men at the farm over a decade. Security at the farm was reviewed as part of a human rights impact assessment, which found that the farm was causing human rights harms across several areas. In March 2024, Del Monte Kenya outsourced all of the security at the farm to a team of 270 G4S guards. Announcing the deal, Wayne Cooke, the then acting managing director of Del Monte Kenya, said: “The safety and security of each individual within our company and the surrounding community are our top priority.” Del Monte Kenya appointed a new manager to address its “human rights challenges”. This year, the Kenyan police extended their work with G4S to guard the site, setting up a “critical infrastructure protection unit” to help improve security at the farm.
Campaigners fear there will be more deaths on Del Monte’s pineapple farm because the involvement of police makes the use of lethal force more difficult to prosecute. G4S denies wrongdoing. The farm in Murang’a county is the largest exporter of Kenyan produce, including to several UK supermarkets, and is worth more than $100m a year. The average monthly salary in the county is about £280 ($380) and pineapple theft has been a problem for decades. A Kenyan senator has called for an independent investigation into the violence at the farm. Stephen Marubu Kibandi Stephen Marubu Kibandi died instantly when he was shot in the chest on 12 August 2025. A witness said Kibandi was among several men who were being chased by police and G4S guards on the Del Monte farm after resisting arrest. They said he was shot by a police officer while raising his hands in surrender. G4S says the police and guards were being attacked by men wielding machetes who also set fire to a G4S vehicle. A copy of his postmortem findings, seen by the Guardian, said Kibandi died from “severe haemorrhage due to perforating chest injury due to single gunshot”. His death is being investigated by the police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA). G4S says it has shared footage with the IPOA showing police and its officers being attacked by men throwing stones and wielding machetes before the fatal shot was fired by a police officer. The spokesperson said its video also showed a G4S vehicle being set alight. The company declined to share the footage with the Guardian. Stephen Nderitu, who witnessed the incident, said his friend had been approaching the police to argue they were doing nothing wrong. He told the Guardian: “There were two policemen and two G4S guards about 50 metres from where we were when I saw one of them point a gun at us and I jumped into the nearby thickets. Marubu held up both his hands and I heard a gunshot and saw him go down.”
The incident has been widely condemned and later prompted a protest in which a G4S van was burned. The local MP, Mary Wamaua Waithira, said: “Why shoot someone who has surrendered? He had lifted his hands up. We want the commanding officer for Ngati police station removed.” Haron Kame Kibandi Stephen’s brother, Haron, died on 20 April this year from brain injuries, days after being struck on the head by stones. Before his death, he claimed the stones had been thrown by G4S guards. Haron told medics this had caused him to fall from a moving motorbike being ridden by a friend. He was allegedly beaten, according to an account he gave to medics. Simon Mburu, the manager of a health clinic to which Haron was taken, said: “He told me that he was hit by a stone by a G4S guard and when he fell down the person riding the bike continued.” When Haron was transferred to a hospital, he gave the same account. He died four days later. Scans revealed he had a “traumatic head injury” including an epidural haematoma, a lethal bleed between the skull and the brain. Kennedy Kiarie, 28, was riding the motorbike when, he claims, stones hit Haron at field 17 inside Del Monte’s farm. He admits they were both stealing pineapples. “I saw a G4S Land Cruiser with about six guards and two policemen parked as if laying and ambush,” he said. “As we approached, they shouted [and] they started throwing stones. I felt Haron leaning towards my right as if he was falling and I tried to hold him while riding with my left hand, but when I felt his weight overwhelming and the bike veering off, I left him. “We went back and found him without shoes and the yellow jersey he had been wearing. His trousers had been pulled all the way down and he was lying on the roadside facing up. He told us that they had beaten him.” He added: “I think stoning someone on a bike is brutal and they should just find ways of arresting thieves and taking them to court.” The G4S spokesperson said it was not aware of any G4S involvement in the death of Haron. Michael Muiruri Michael Muiruri died on 8 August last year after he was knocked off a motorbike by a G4S pickup. The G4S driver has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving and has been dismissed by the company. A postmortem report said: “The deceased was a pillion passenger when their motorcycle was hit from behind and throwing the deceased along the middle of the road before the same motor vehicles hit him and properly ran over.” Brian Kuria Muthoni, 24, said he was riding the bike and his friend Muiruri was his passenger. He said: “We were hit from behind and the bike swerved to the left while Muiruri was thrown to the right side of the road from the impact. The vehicle then went over him and drove off at speed.”
Police impounded a G4S Toyota Hilux, which had a damaged fog light and bull bar consistent with impact, and the motorbike as part of an investigation into the incident. G4S and Del Monte Kenya say it was a traffic accident. Muiruiri’s mother, Margaret Njeri Murigi, 52, said her son died within three hours of the incident and barely had time to answer her questions about what happened. “He said they were hit from behind by a [G4S] car. He was bleeding from the mouth and had held his abdomen,” she said. “Every time I pass by Del Monte I feel a lot of pain. Even if he had gone into the farms, why didn’t they arrest him and take him to court?” The G4S spokesperson said a company investigation found no evidence to suggest the driver’s actions were intentional. Locals claim there have been other examples of G4S guards using vehicles as weapons against those they suspect of stealing. ‘No company should be beyond scrutiny’ Joe Nyutu, the senator for Murang’a county, said he was “deeply concerned” about the allegations. He said: “Repeated incidents over a relatively short period point to systemic issues that require examination, including security protocols, command responsibility and adherence to human rights standards. That is precisely why a comprehensive and independent investigation is necessary.” Referring to Del Monte, he added: “No company operating in Kenya, regardless of its size or economic contribution, should be beyond scrutiny.” Stephen and Haron were the only sons of 61-year-old Harrison Kibandi Marubu, from a village in Murang’a county. Standing between their graves, he said: “I have no one to inherit me now.” “If I had the power to do something, I would show my anger towards G4S and Del Monte for what they have done to me. Must all the suspected thieves be killed? They don’t deserve to be condemned to the grave.” Haron left a wife, 24-year-old Caroline Wanjiku, who now has to bring up their three-year-old daughter alone. “Life is tough because she asks me hard questions. I dropped out of high school and I don’t have a job,” she said. The family was still mourning the death of Stephen when a call came that his younger brother had been found seriously injured on the roadside. He died days after his family first visited him in hospital. Kibandi said: “I had never imagined my sons would be of any danger in this way because they both worked at Del Monte at different times as casuals. I feel so bad when I see the pineapple farms or a G4S vehicle because now I have no sons.” He said that after Stephen’s death the family did not trust the police to investigate Haron’s death, so they did not report it to the authorities. He said: “Even if you report to the police, there would be no help.” The brothers’ mother, Nancy Muthoni Kibandi, was too grief-stricken to talk about them. She waved her left hand and began to sob when asked how she felt. Clement Kamau, who heads Kagama Community Action Forum, is documenting alleged human rights abuses linked to Del Monte’s pineapple farms. The UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders has said Kamau has faced threats and intimidation. Kamau said: “They have armed policemen inside their vehicles and that means they have more power and even when you report violence, it’s the same policemen you will be dealing with.” A spokesperson for Kenyan police said: “The involvement of the national police in Del Monte farm’s security was a well thought-out arrangement meant to not only secure a strategic investment in the country but also reinforce a firm measure of the rule of law and an end to impunity.
“Unacceptable behaviour including theft of produce made the government step in. There has since been a marked improvement on security around the area.” A G4S spokesperson said: “G4S security officers working at Del Monte sites have undertaken comprehensive training, including operational procedures, human rights awareness, de-escalation techniques and the principles of minimum use of defensive force. “The matters raised either relate to police operations, not G4S, or road traffic accidents that are investigated by the Kenyan police.” A source at Del Monte Kenya said G4S was appointed to guard the farm because of its “strong commitment to maintaining human rights standards”. They said: “Del Monte Kenya also engages another security firm, GardaWorld, which provides operatives for the control room. This diversity is intentional to avoid entrenched problems arising from the establishment of a single security firm. Del Monte Kenya employs no security guards directly, relying on the experience and expertise of the two specialist firms.” The source said Del Monte Kenya “investigates instances of wrongdoing brought to its attention, and takes appropriate action where investigations identify improper conduct”. They added: “Throughout the course of its operations, Del Monte Kenya has implemented training and policies in order to uphold safe operations, and in particular has introduced additional training and mechanisms to promote safe and ethical security practices by security guards and police officers providing security services. “Del Monte Kenya takes all allegations of abuse on the part of security guards extremely seriously. When any abuse or impropriety is found to have occurred, action is taken against the individuals involved.”