1980 promised to be a good year for the flesh business in Mombasa. Kenya and the US had recently signed a deal that allowed the docking of American ships on Kenyan waters. The flocking of thousands of randy sailors on liberty meant it was time for Monica Njeri, a sex worker and a mother of two to make a killing.
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The Montreal Gazette. October 21, 1980. The piece was originally published in The Washington Post.
Njeri’s last client was Frank J. Sundstorm, a 19-year-old American sailor on USS La Salle.
Njeri met Sundstorm at a bar and bargained a fee of $41 (or $23, according to some reports). They then rented a room and got on to the main business of the night. Only one of them left that room alive. At some point in the night, Sundstorm tried to take the money he had paid Njeri from her purse. In the ensuing quarrel, he smashed a beer bottle on her head. He then jabbed her repeatedly with the broken bottle.
Alarmed by Njeri’s dying screams, the hotel management called the police. Sundstorm was arrested and charged with murder. In an outrageous deal, he confessed to the lesser charge of manslaughter. The judge, 74-year old Justice LGE Harris, released him on a $70, two-year bond to keep the peace. Sundstorm left the country without ever even paying the fine.
Njeris death sparked off a national outrage. Even worse, it seemed Sundstorm had gotten off easy because he was white and male. The judge was white, as were thirteen other High Court judges at the time. The prosecutor was also white while the defence lawyer was of Asian origin. The outrage bore nothing though, expect a $16, 860 compensation by the US government to Njeri’s two children aged 8 and 13 at the time.
In a recent case in Rhode Island, a 52-year-old man called Frank Joseph Sundstorm was charged with three counts of second-degree manslaughter for driving the wrong way on a highway. FJ Sundstorm caused an accident that killed three women. It is unclear whether that is the same Sundstorm but (19+33) would be 52 years old today.