It was double victory for a 28-year-old inmate at the Manyani Maximum Security Prison in Taita Taveta when the High Court acquitted him of sexual assault charges days after he emerged top in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.
Juma Nyasi scored 401 marks in the national test.
Mr Nyasi was serving life in prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a three-year-old boy.
But he is now a free man after the Voi High Court acquitted him of the charges after new evidence emerged.
“I am so happy. I cannot express how I am feeling right now. My focus is now on my education,” he said.
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This was the second time Mr Nyasi sat the KCPE, revealing he dropped out of Marungu Secondary School in Voi at Form Two due to lack of school fees.
“I sat the KCPE exams at Kale Primary School in 2009 but dropped out of secondary school in 2011 after my sponsor died,” he said.
He believes his freedom is a new opportunity to focus on his life and improve his future.
“When I went to prison, I decided to keep myself busy and that is why I enrolled for the KCPE exams. Now that I did well, I will ensure that I go to high school,” he said.
He added that his success in the KCPE examinations will help him proceed to the next level of his education.
Get sponsors
“Right now, I don’t know where I will get my school fees from but God will provide for me. I am sending requests here and there to see whether I can get sponsors to fund my education,” he told the Nation.
Juma Nyasi is carried shoulder high by his fellow inmates at Manyani Maximum Security Prison during the celebration of his KCPE performance. He scored 401 marks in the exam.
Although he was yet to know which school he had been called to, he said he was ready to fight the stigma that comes with being an ex-convict and going to secondary school at his age.
“What matters is that I get an education. I will endure the rest,” he says.
As for the court case, he said he had forgiven those who wrongly implicated him in the crime that sent him to prison.
“I forgave them a long time ago. They too have asked me for forgiveness and I did,” he said.
Justice John Mativo directed that Mr Nyasi be freed, saying there was no tangible evidence linking him to the crime.
The Manyani prison allowed him to walk to freedom after the court quashed the sentence slapped on him on March 26, 2021 by a Voi magistrate.
Mr Nyasi and four other inmates sat their KCPE examination at the correctional facility.
His confidence
Manyani prison officer-in-charge Moses Chepkoy confirmed the release, stating his confidence that Mr Nyasi will change his life.
“It is encouraging that he did not allow the circumstances in prison to choke his vision for success and was also not deterred by his sentence. We thank the court for allowing him a second chance to rebuild his life,” he said.
Mr Chepkoy said more inmates will be enrolled for the next examination as the facility strives to make them better citizens.
The prison, he said, only runs a basic-education programme and has not started enrolling inmates for secondary school classes.
He said the steps are in line with the government’s Vision 2030 to eradicate illiteracy and build the nation’s human resources.
“As they (inmates) prepare to go back to society, they can be good citizens and make their lives better,” he said.
He said that with better resources, the prison can transform inmates into better citizens through education.
The prison attained a mean score of 311.50, an increase from last year’s 281.40.
The other top candidates at the prison, Jaji Kadodo, Ngumbao Karisa and Javan Mwanjau, scored 313, 274 and 258 marks respectively. BY DAILY NATION