KCSE Candidate Wrongfully Prisoned Set Free.
After serving seven months in prison for a crime she claims she did not commit, a candidate for the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) was released.
Ann Makena was sentenced to three years in prison and a Ksh100,000 fine for selling illegal goods at a liquor store.
Makena maintained her innocence after her release on Friday, April 8, claiming that her only mistake was being gullible to her boss.
Makena was released from the Waita Women’s Prison in Mwingi, Kitui County after a human rights group raised her bond fee.
“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.Â
Stella Njoka, her mother, was overjoyed at her daughter’s acquittal. She expressed her gratitude to God and the group for reuniting her with her daughter, noting that she had nearly given up in her pursuit of 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 she was duped by her boss, who asked her to plead guilty to the charges in court, promising to pay her bond.
She also accused police officers of coercing her to comply with her boss’s demands.
“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.
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"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 stated that the misfortune occurred while she was attempting to raise funds for her university education. She is now back at home in Kiiani, Tharaka Nithi County, and hopes to resume her studies.
KCSE Candidate Wrongfully Prisoned Set Free
