A
Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) pastor who was wrongly condemned to life in prison
on claims that he had defiled a five-year-old child was freed after the Court
of Appeal quashed his conviction.
 |
| Pastor Tom David Orwaru Nyakundi during an interview with journalists at Nyagachi Chief's Camp in Nyamira County on Tuesday/ Photo by Nation |
But
Pastor Tom David Orwaru Nyakundi, 45, had to spend two weeks at the Naivasha
Maximum Security Prison after the court ordered his release.
In an interview
with the Nation, Pastor Orwaru said that though he was set free on February 18,
the prison warden delayed releasing him until March 2.
On March 1, a
day before he was released, he was transferred from Naivasha to the Kodiaga
prison in Kisumu County.
He spent a night
there before finally being set free.
"I am very
happy to be free at last. Freedom is a basic necessity in life. However, I know
it will take a lifetime to clear my image after I was wrongly accused.”
The pastor comes
from Nyagenke village in West Mugirango constituency in Nyamira County.
On Sunday, SDA
faithful congregated at the Nyagachi chief's camp for a welcoming and
thanksgiving ceremony in his honour.
"I was
received well by the church. I thank God for this and I still ask for your
prayers."
A three-judge
bench of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Hannah Okwengu found Pastor Orwaru
not guilty of the defilement offence.
"For these
reasons, we find that the appellant be supported. Consequently, we allow this
appeal, quash the appellant's conviction, set aside the sentence imposed
against him and order the appellant be set free forthwith unless otherwise
lawfully held," the judges ruled.
In his appeal,
Pastor Orwaru argues that neither the complainant nor her mother were witnesses
of truth. He said he was only named as the suspect after the complainant had
been beaten up by her mother.
"The
complainant’s mother beat up the young child because she had first named two
other persons as the persons who had allegedly defiled her. But when those two
young boys were called, the complainant is said to have retracted her
story," Pastor Orwaru said in his appeal.
The pastor was
arrested in July 2012 and sought justice for 10 years.
A Magistrate
Court in Kapsabet, Nandi County, where Pastor Orwaru worked as a chaplain at a
secondary school, sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2013.
Kapsabet Chief
Magistrate Beatrice Mosiria, while sentencing him, said young children look up
to adults like Mr Orwaru and it is unfortunate when they take advantage of
their innocence.
Six witnesses
had testified evidence against him.
But the pastor
maintained that he was innocent.
His plea was
dismissed and the magistrate sentenced him to life in prison and hard labour to
serve as an example to others.
He was taken to
the Eldoret main prison. He applied for a bond pending his appeal. It
materialised in July 2014.
He was released
on a Sh300,000 (over $2500) personal bond with one surety of the same amount.
He stayed out of
prison until August 15, 2018, when he was given a date for judgment.
Pastor Orwaru is now contemplating filing a case against the state for wrongful imprisonment.
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