Double Joy: Man Released From Prison for Crime He Didn’t Commit Days After Scoring High in Exam
- Juma Nyasi was freed after the Voi High Court acquitted him of sexual assault charges citing a lack of evidence
- After being freed, Nyasi said he had forgiven those who wrongly implicated him in the crime, saying he will now focus on his education
- Nyasi, in turn, appealed to well-wishers who would be touched by his predicament to sponsor his education
A 28-year-old man who was serving a life sentence at Manyani Maximum Security Prison in Taita Taveta is celebrating a double victory.
Source: UGC
To begin with, Juma Nyasi scored 401 marks in the recently released 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results.
In an interesting turn of events, the man has also been freed after the Voi High Court acquitted him of sexual assault charges. The court said new evidence had emerged vindicating him.
In his ruling, Justice John Mativo said there was no tangible evidence linking him to the crime in which he had been accused of sexually assaulting a three-year-old boy.
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The man has been in custody since March 26, 2021.
Speaking to Nation after being freed, Nyasi said he had forgiven those who wrongly implicated him in the crime and will now focus on his education.
"I am so happy. I cannot express how I am feeling right now. My focus is now on my education," said Nyasi.
Dropped out of school
This was not the first time the vicenarian was sitting for the national examination.
He disclosed that he first sat for the KCPE in 2009 at Kale Primary School and enrolled at Marungu Secondary School in Voi where he dropped out in form two when his sponsor died.
"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 added.
He, in turn, appealed to well-wishers who would be touched by his predicament to sponsor his education.
While in secondary school, he vowed to fight the stigma that will come with him being an ex-convict and his advanced age.
Another man regained freedom
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a Nigerian, Ahmad Adetola-Kazeem, took to Facebook to reveal how a man named Taiwo spent six years in prison without any proper trial.
On Thursday, October 28, 2021, he said that Hon Justice Sonaike ordered the man's release after his years of detention at Kirikiri Maximum Custodian Centre.
According to him, the development happened after a PRAI lawyer filed an application. Ahmad said an instance like Taiwo's shows how messy the whole criminal justice system in Nigeria is.
Source: Legit.ng
Joseph Omotayo (HOD Human-Interest) Joseph Omotayo has been writing for the human interest desk since 2019 and is currently the head of the desk. He graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with a degree in Literature in English in 2016. He once worked for Afridiaspora, OlisaTV & CLR. He is a 2022/2023 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking fellow. He can be reached via: joseph.omotayo@corp.legit.ng.
Khadijah Thabit (Copyeditor) Khadijah Thabit is an editor with over 3 years of experience editing and managing contents such as articles, blogs, newsletters and social leads. She has a BA in English and Literary Studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Khadijah joined Legit.ng in September 2020 as a copyeditor and proofreader for the Human Interest, Current Affairs, Business, Sports and PR desks. As a grammar police, she develops her skills by reading novels and dictionaries. Email: khadeeejathabit@gmail.com
