Inmate freed on compassionate grounds

May 20, 2023 - 13:30

Just released inmate, Isaiah Tuwei Ngetich (in yellow sweater, seated right) with a section of other 447 prisoners at the Kericho Medium Prison, listening keenly to speeches during a visit by the Kericho Court Users Committee members, Thursday May 18, 2023. Photos by Sarah Njagi.

Bureti, Saturday May 20, 2023

K.N.A By Sarah Njagi

A 54-year-old inmate, serving a three-year sentence at the Kericho GK Medium Prison for the offence of destruction of cultivated crops, has been freed on medical grounds.

While releasing Isaiah Tuwei Ngetich, who was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer in January this year, Kericho High Court Judge, Justice Joseph Sergon, said there were no compelling reasons for the prison facility to continue holding him.

Justice Sergon was speaking, Thursday, during a Kericho Court User’s Committee member’s visit to the prison facility.

The Officer In-Charge of the prison Senior Superintendent of Prisons (SSP), Labantine Makoyamo, said the prisoner was brought to the jail upon his conviction on March 3, 2022 had so far served 14 months into his sentence.

Makomayo said the prison facility filed an application to the Kericho Law court to have him freed on medical grounds, upon noticing that he was experiencing a lot of pain when swallowing food late last year and they took him to the Kericho County Referral Hospital, where he was diagnosed with the life threatening ailment.

“When he came to the prison he was not sick, but he later developed pain while swallowing food, thus prompting prison authorities to immediately take him to the referral hospital for diagnosis and treatment,” he said.

In an interview with KNA, shortly after he was released at the Prison’s Welfare Office, Ngetich expressed joy that he will now be with his family members as he undergoes treatment from his home in Soin/Sigowet Sub-county.

The distraught father of two said he was diagnosed with advanced cancer of the throat on January 8, 2023, after he started experiencing pain while swallowing food.

He further said he had developed a swelling on the right side of the neck and another one the left side of his forehead, besides experiencing difficulty while talking, but was hopeful that God would heal him.

“I thank God that I am finally going back home to be with my family after staying in jail for one year and two months. My brothers have been visiting me and I cannot wait to be reunited with them,” said Ngetich.

Courtesy K.N.A