A candidate who sat the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) was released from prison after serving seven months for a crime she claims she did not commit.
Ann Makena was sentenced to three years in prison with an alternative of Ksh100,000 fine for selling contraband goods at a liquor store.
On Friday, April 8, after she was released, Makena maintained her innocence, claiming that her only mistake was being gullible to her boss.
Makena was freed after a human rights group raised her bond fee and secured her release from the Waita Women's Prison in Mwingi, Kitui County.
"Makena and her mother are the faces and the names of what injustice looks like. She was in court when the daughter was being sentenced but did not have the means to pay the fine," Redempta Mwikali, an activist lamented.
Her mother, Stella Njoka was beside herself with joy following her acquittal. She expressed her gratitude to God and the group for getting her daughter back home, noting that she had almost given up in the quest for justice for her daughter.
"I am very grateful to God and the people who responded to my plea for help. Thanks to the well-wishers, my daughter has been released," Njoka stated.
Makena claimed that she was gullible to her boss, who asked her to plead guilty to the charges in court, promising that he would settle her bond.
She further accused police officers, of coercing her to give in to her boss' demand.
"For me to plead guilty, I was under duress from the police officers. They told me to admit to the offence, telling me that many who had pleaded guilty had been released on bond by their employers.
"I did as instructed and was sentenced to three years or an alternative fine of Ksh100,000. After that, my boss and the officers who convinced me to take the plea were nowhere to be seen, and I was jailed," Makena stated.
The 22-year-old noted that the misfortune befell her when she was trying to raise money for her university education. Now back at her home in Kiiani, Tharaka Nithi County, she expressed hope of resuming her studies.
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