After 25 years in prison, Simon Lukwachelia, who was sentenced to death after being found guilty by a court in Nanyuki of five counts of theft, is now free.
According to a report by citizen TV, Lokwachwelia, now 49, was released from Rumuruti GK Prison on Sunday after a successful appeal to review his sentence.
On April 13, 2000, Senior Resident Judge Nanyuki S.M. Kibunja found Lokwachwelia guilty of the charges and has since remained behind bars appealing the verdict.
He was reportedly arrested in Subukia District, Nakuru and charged in 1998 in Nanyuki with crimes of which he claimed he was ignorant.
At the time of his arrest, young Lokwachwelia was on his way to find his girlfriend, whom he intended to marry.
He told citizen TV that his fiancée had come to Subukia, and he decided to visit her.
He took the lift in the car at the Gatundia Shopping Centre, with a close friend, another man.
Young Lokwachwelia did not know that the car they are riding in has been stolen, and the detectives from Nanyuki were hunting down the culprits.
Upon arriving at the Mall of Subukia, the fraudster excused themselves by leaving him in the car and immediately security guards rushed at him while brandishing their weapons ready to fire.
He turned himself in but could not locate his accomplices because there was no information indicating that they were criminals.
Since then, he fought in court until 2019, when his appeal was heard by Judge H. Waweru who substituted the death sentence to 35 years jail.
The provisions were effective from the time he was sentenced on April 13, 2000. Now, he has been released from prison after years of trying to prove his innocence and has become a tough guy with A-level mechanical engineering.
At his home in Kinamba Susian village in Laikipia on Sunday, Lokwechelia could not hide his joy after his release from Rumuruti GK Prison.
He has noticed that a lot has changed since then.
The Deputy Director of Prisons, Superintendent of Prisons, Justus Akhanyanya, called on the local community not to neglect and discriminate against their convicted relatives.
He said the public should not discriminate against ex-convicts, but rather help them reconnect with their families after their release.
The official called on the families to assist the government in rehabilitating and improving the lives of the inmates after they left the reformatory.
He said the government provides them with a variety of job skills while they are incarcerated so that they can make a smooth transition when they get out of prison.
