This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
Kenya
Henry Kailutha Nkarichia, 43, and his brother Ambrose Mungathia Nkarichia, 52, had been wrongly convicted of murdering their father in 2005 and spent 15 years in prison before being exonerated in 2020.
On November 5, 2005, their father, Stanley Nkarichia, died in a mysterious fire at their home in Kisima location, Buuri Sub-County, Meru County. The brothers were arrested and quickly convicted to hang by Justice Mathew Emakule in 2006.
However, in 2009, former President Mwai Kibaki commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment, giving the brothers a glimmer of hope. A retrial was ordered by the Court of Appeal in Nyeri after they raised substantial grounds that they had been framed by their stepmother.
On January 30, 2020, Justice Alfred Mabeya, sitting in Meru, found that the brothers were victims of a devious frame-up by their stepmother, Margaret Karuki, who was a consistent liar. The judge said the case's success relied greatly on her false testimony.
During their long incarceration, their families were evicted from their land as their stepmother attempted to sell it off. The brothers were finally released after 15 years in prison, and they were warmly welcomed by their neighbors who offered them seeds to start cultivating their land.
Justice Mabeya also raised several unanswered issues in the case, including the lack of soot in the deceased's lungs and the absence of burns on the body. He questioned whether the deceased was murdered in the house and then brought outside in the rain before the house was set on fire to destroy evidence.
The brothers are now trying to rebuild their lives and have expressed gratitude that their families remained intact during their long incarceration.
