ODPP recommends a fresh trial of a pardoned convict just minutes after High Court ruled that he was unlawfully convicted and imprisoned for 17 years.
Daniel Wanyeki Gachoka, 59, was granted freedom after spending 17 years wrongfully imprisoned.
He was however re-arrested and is now being held at Ruiru Police Station as he awaits a fresh trial.
He had been serving a life sentence at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison for allegedly defiling his two underage daughters.
However, last week, the Kiambu High Court overturned his conviction, ruling that he had been wrongfully convicted.
The court’s decision followed a dramatic turn of events in which Wanyeki’s daughters, now adults, revealed they had been coerced into falsely accusing their father in 2007.
The two women testified in court that they had been pressured by their grandmother to give false evidence against Wanyeki.
The court accepted their confession, acknowledging that their testimony had been fabricated under family pressure, not based on the truth.
Although the court ruled in Wanyeki’s favor and ordered his release, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has recommended that he face a new trial.
