Boniface Murage, 22-yr-old Man Arrested for Smuggling Daughter From KNH Released

Boniface Murage Wangechi, a man who tried to smuggle his baby from Kenyatta National Hospital after he was unable to clear Ksh56,000 bill was on Tuesday morning set free by a court.

Appearing in front of Milimani Resident Magistrate Muthoni Nzibe, Boniface pleaded guilty after revealing that he had made the move because he did not have money to settle the hospital bill.

The magistrate handed the 22-year-old man a three-month suspended sentence noting that the hospital bill had been settled.

A suspended sentence is a prison sentence that is not put into immediate effect. It allows a judge to decide that the offense is serious enough for a jail term, but in the particular circumstances of the case, some or all of the imprisonment should be suspended. 

That means that he will be put on state watch and expected not to commit any other offense. In the event, he does, he will put on a custodial sentence.

His lawyer, Charles L. Madowo took to Twitter to give an update on the developments in the case.

"We are glad to report that Mr. Boniface has been given a suspended sentence of 3months and he shall be set free with a condition that he does not commit an offense within that period of time. We are now processing his release order. He will be home today," the advocate noted.

After Murage's case was highlighted by the media, various personalities came to his aid including Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who settled the hospital bill.

The governor visited the man's wife, Agnes Murage, at KNH and cleared the couple's pending bill. 

After she was released, Sonko took her to a supermarket where he bought an assortment of items for Agnes and her newborn baby.

Boniface was intercepted by security guards at the hospital while carrying a blue bag on February 16, 2019, who forcefully opened it only to find a baby.