Laikipia: Man Erroneously Sentenced To Death Freed After Serving 25 Years In Prison

• Simon Lokwachelia was convicted in 2000 after being found guilty of five charges of robbery with violence
• Since his sentencing, Simon maintained that he was innocent, which saw the court of appeal reduce his death sentence to 35 years
• According to his narration, the ex-convict said he was arrested inside a vehicle that he had asked for a lift

Laikipia county - A Kenyan man, Simon Lokwachelia, aged 49, has been freed after battling appeals to prove his innocence in a robbery with violence case that ended with him being slapped with a death sentence.

Since his conviction in 2000, Lokwachelia has always maintained his innocence, claiming he was accused of crimes he knew nothing about.

He was convicted after being found guilty of five counts of robbery with violence by a Nanyuki Court, Citizen Digital reported.

On April 13, 2000, the then Nanyuki Senior Resident Magistrate S.M. Kibunja sentenced Lokwachwelia to death, having found him guilty of the charges, Citizen Digital reported.

As luck will have it, on Sunday, August 13, he was released from the Rumuruti GK Prison after serving 25 years, having attained a Grade-1 Mechanical Engineering craft.

During his long battle to prove his innocence, Lokwachwelia insisted that he was arrested in Subukia area over offences he knew nothing about.

According to his statement, he was arrested while on the way to look for his girlfriend whom he had intended to marry.

Simon Lokwachwelia was visiting his girlfriend

He narrated that he requested a lift from a car that was being driven by his close friend in the company of another man at Gatundia trading centre,

According to Lokwachwelia, he did not know that the vehicle had been stolen and detectives from Nanyuki were pursuing the thieves.

When they arrived at Subukia trading centre, his friend and the other man alighted and left him behind, only for police officers to bounce on him.

The ex-convict surrendered to the police but had a hard time saying where his friends had gone since he claimed he had information that they were criminals.

In 2019, Lokwachwelia scored a big win after Justice H.P.B Waweru substituted the sentences from death row to a jail term of 35 years for the five counts.

The judge further ordered that the sentences run concurrently under section 296 (2) of the Penal Code, meaning his sentences were to run from the time of his sentencing.

William Ruto pardons 37 convicts

In other news, President William Ruto pardoned 37 individuals who were jailed over various offences.

In a gazette notice by Attorney General Justin Muturi, the president pardoned the 37 under the Power of Mercy Act 2011 upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee.

"It is notified for the general information of the public that in the exercise of the powers conferred by Article 133 of the Constitution of Kenya and section 23 (1) of the Power of Mercy Act, 2011, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Kenya, upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on the Power of Mercy, granted the petitions of (the aforementioned)," the gazette notice read.

At the same time, Ruto reduced capital punishment for convicts to life imprisonment for all prisoners convicted before November 21, 2022.

In the gazette notice, the head of state also pardoned 5,861 convicts serving minor sentences, including those jailed for six months or less.