3 Kamiti Prison wardens convicted for aiding escape of terrorism inmates
3 Kamiti Prison wardens convicted for aiding escape of terrorism inmates
Three Kamiti Maximum prison wardens have been convicted of facilitating the escape of terrorist inmates in a case that has taken over four years to conclude.
According to a statement by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on Tuesday, January 13, the three officers were found guilty of neglect of official duty, aiding prisoners to escape, and organizing a meeting in support of a terrorist group.
Delivering his judgment at Kahawa Law Court, Senior Principal Magistrate Boaz Ombewa observed that the escape was clearly well-planned and must have taken a considerable amount of time to execute. The convicted officers are Robert Kipkirui Soi, Kaikai Talengo Moses, and Willy Wambua.
Principal prosecution counsels James Machirah and Kennedy Amwayi called fourteen witnesses and proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the convicts aided the escape of three terrorism convicts on the night of November 14, 2021, and the morning of November 15, 2021, at GK Kamiti Maximum Security Prison within Kasarani Sub-County in Nairobi City County.
The escapees were Musharaf Abdala, who used various aliases including Shukri, Sharif, Alex Shikanda, and Rashid Swaitar, Mohamed Ali Abikar, and Joseph Juma Odhiambo. All three were serving sentences for terrorism-related offences at the time of their escape.
The court found that on the night of November 14, 2021, and the morning of November 15, 2021, Soi and Talengo, being Kenya Prisons Service officers, jointly and willfully neglected to prevent the escape of the convicted prisoners.
Wambua faced additional charges and was convicted of the offences of aiding prison escape and organizing a meeting in support of a terrorist group.
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The prosecution proved to the court that on or before November 15, 2021, at GK Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Wambua directly or indirectly and willfully aided the escape of the convicts who were in lawful custody serving sentences for terrorism-related offences.
The court further established that Wambua organized a meeting between four convicted terror inmates at Condemned Block A, Cell Number 6, by facilitating the movement of Abdul Majid Yassin from Cell Number 2 to the said Cell Number 6, in contravention of the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2012.
The case is scheduled for a sentence hearing on January 20, 2026.
The dramatic escape from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kenya’s largest maximum security facility, occurred in November 2021 and sparked a nationwide manhunt.
On November 16, 2021, security agencies launched an intensive search for the three convicted terror suspects, with police arresting seven prison wardens in connection with the escape.
Among the escapees was Musharaf Abdalla, who had been convicted of attempting to attack parliament in 2012.
Joseph Juma Odhiambo had been arrested in 2019 at the Kenya-Somalia border for planning to join the Somali terror group al-Shabab, while Mohamed Ali Abikar was convicted for his role in al-Shabab’s attack on Garissa University in April 2015, an assault that claimed the lives of at least one hundred and forty-eight people, most of them students.
The three men were recaptured two days later in Kitui County, central Kenya, after local authorities received reports from residents about suspicious-looking individuals.
According to media reports at the time, the escapees were attempting to reach Somalia and had been asking people for directions to Garissa when they were apprehended.
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