Trent Keegan

It was a shock yesterday to find out that New Zealand photographer and NUJ member Trent Keegan was found dead in a ditch in Nairobi. It is never good to hear that a photographer or journalist has been attacked, or as in this case killed, but it was all the more shock because Trent and I were in regular e-mail correspondence, indeed the last message I received from him was only Monday night.

We hear all too often about our colleagues, usually away in far off places that most of us have not visited, getting assaulted or kidnapped, or in the worst cases killed. It often seems remote. I didn’t know Trent well, indeed, to the best of my knoweldge we had never met. He was from New Zealand and settled in Cork, then Galway, Ireland, and myself from Wales and now based in Nottingham. But these recent contacts brought him closer than I realised.

There is a mention on the NUJ website, EPUK and also Stuff

There are some pics of Trent on his website with his family. (He has a sister over here, but the rest of his family were back in New Zealand.)

He had gone out to Africa a few months ago, worked in Tanzania and more recently in Kenya, was dedicated to the story and the people he was working with, and I think this comes across very clearly in the pictures he took. He is described as a gentle giant by the many that knew him, and his warmth came across to me in his communications.

Is it strange to be so affected by the death of someone with whom one has such a fleeting contact?

The New Zealand Police are taking a healthy interest in the circumstances surrounding his death, and the New Zealand Prime Minster has issued an encouraging statement to the press: "There is a lot of speculation in the media surrounding the death. The New Zealand Government expects Nairobi police to conduct a thorough investigation into Mr Keegan’s death."

“The investigation is expected to take some time, and MFAT will keep Mr Keegan’s family informed of any developments,” Helen Clark said.

I hope that the person/persons who committed this vile act are caught, and the people who put them up to such a thing as well.

© Pete Jenkins
www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/