Wrongfully convicted pastor set free after a decade
Pastor Tom David Orwaru Nyakundi during an interview with journalists at Nyagachi Chief's Camp in Nyamira County on Tuesday.
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.
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 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.
