A man who was sentenced to a 100-year jail term is now free after the court overturned his conviction and sentence.
The man had been sentenced to the lengthy jail term in 2022 after being found guilty of defiling four minors under his custody from 2010 to 2016 when he was the director of a children’s home in Nairobi.
His release came after details emerged suggesting that the minors had been coerced to fabricate their testimonies at the time when the man was being charged.
In a case heard in 2024, one of the minors told the court that a sponsor of the institution had engineered the recruitment of boys to fabricate statements before police and say that the man had sexually abused them.
According to findings, the sponsor had promised them rewards if they told the court they had been sodomised by the man.
The fresh details emerged during an appeal filed convict and his team, following a 2022 High Court conviction.
At the time, the court heard that while violating the minors, the man would quote the Bible in persuading them that it was right and lying that the holy book allowed it.
He had denied multiple charges of sodomy, committing indecent acts with children and attempted defilement.
While delivering the judgement in 2022, Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul noted that the man deserved the sentence as the offence was serious and the tough sentence handed to him will serve as a deterrent to other offenders.
Further, she refused to hand him a non-custodial sentence arguing that would be a miscarriage of justice, especially on the minors.
During the hearing of the case, the prosecution opposed his release on bail arguing he was “a serial defiler” and had a pending case at Makadara law courts.
According to the State, the man continued to commit similar offences even after the court granted him bail.
Fast forward to today, the court has ordered his immediate release, unless he is lawfully held over other committed crimes.
