Author of the book, Born Free, Joy Adamson, is killed

Date: 3 Jan 1980
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Author of the book Born Freeand naturalist, Joy Adamson died under mysterious circumstances in a Kenyan bush. Initially it was reported that she was attacked to death in the bush by a lion, but further details emerged that she was stabbed to death by her employee, Paul Nakware Ekai, 18. This was revealed by Ekai in an extraordinary prison cell interview with Jeevan Vasagar from the Guardian. Apparently this was his first since he was jailed for Adamson's murder. Ekai also confessed before his trial that he stabbed the naturalist because she had not paid him for 14 days' work as a labourer at the Shaba game reserve in Kenya, where she was working on a project to return captive leopards to the wild.

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South African History Online. (2012, December 20). Author of the book, Born Free, Joy Adamson, is killed. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094446

South African History Online (2012) 'Author of the book, Born Free, Joy Adamson, is killed', South African History Online, 20 December. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094446 (Accessed: 20 September 2026).

South African History Online, Author of the book, Born Free, Joy Adamson, is killed [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094446, (accessed 20 September 2026).

"Author of the book, Born Free, Joy Adamson, is killed." South African History Online, 20 Dec. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094446. Accessed 20 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Author of the book, Born Free, Joy Adamson, is killed." South African History Online. December 20, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094446.