Sammy Musembi was arrested on June 30, 1999, following a dramatic chase on the streets of Nairobi.
As part of a four-man gang, he was tied to various violent robberies and was handed the death sentence.
Condemned to a tough life at Kamiti Maximum Prison, it wasn't until 2005 that Musembi chose to chart a new path for himself while still behind bars.
He abandoned long-held fantasies of the world of crime, became a born-again Christian and enrolled in a tailoring course that would see him become an excellent designer trusted with creating outfits for the high and mighty.
When National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi took his oath of office in March 2013, Musembi was approached by one of the prison officers in the tailoring department accompanied by Parliament orderlies.
He was tasked with making a gown for the speaker and given specifications.
Musembi went on to make gowns for, among others, former Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro and former Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Alex Ole Magelo.
"Baada ya miaka tano, niliacha fikira ya kupanga mfuko na nikaokoka (After five years behind bars, I stopped planning how to execute a robbery and became a born-again Christian).
"I am the one who sewed Muturi's gown...I did the job and after two days the gown was ready," he told The Standard.
Following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in 2017 that declared the death penalty unconstitutional, Musembi applied for a retrial.
The judge found in his favour noting that the death sentence handed down to him was unfair.
"The judge ruled that I deserved 30 years in jail, not the death sentence," Musembi disclosed.
Aged 47, Musembi was released from Kamiti in July of 2019.
On the night he was arrested, Musembi revealed, he was in the driver's seat of a stolen get-away car near Nairobi National Park (NNP) with members of his gang. He refused to stop after being flagged down by police and, instead, accelerated.
Musembi claimed a police helicopter joined in the pursuit and, after they ditched the car and ran into the park, a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) chopper joined the chase as well, leaving them out of options.
Nowadays, Musembi is a pastor at Crusaders for Christ Church which was established by a former co-ordinator of the dreaded Mungiki gang, Nduri Waruinge.
Waruinge's church embraces reformed ex-convicts who are assisted to re-integrate back into society.
