Convict tries to escape after finding out wife is pregnant

A man serving his jail term at the Kamiti Medium Prison for killing his lover has been sentenced to two years by a Makadara law court after he pleaded guilty to the charge of escaping lawful custody.

Evans Makaka escaped after learning that his wife was pregnant.

He was serving a six-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to hitting his then-lover Esther Njeri at Umoja in Nairobi in 2019. Njeri was killed after she came back to the house after seeing a man she said had come to deliver a waiting card for her ID.

Njeri died as a result of blunt force trauma. She was found two days later in her house by neighbours and a note left by Makaka in which he accused her of cheating on him.

Makaka, now 31, made an application for a plea bargain, and the murder case against him was reduced to manslaughter. He was sentenced on April 27, 2021.

He was presented before Senior Principal Magistrate Helen Onkwani after escaping prison on November 8. He was in the custody of Sergeant Patrick Muthini before he was arrested by prison officers.

Makaka was undertaking the usual duties when he excused himself to use the toilet before disappearing. A search led to his arrest at a hideout in the bushes, having undressed his pair of trousers. He is said to have turned violent when he was caught hiding, forcing the officers to shoot in the air to scare and handcuff him. Before Onkwani, he pleaded guilty, saying he was devastated by the news that his wife at home was expecting a baby.

He was upset that his wife had not made an effort to communicate with him about the child.

He pleaded for leniency, saying he regrets his actions which almost cost Muthini his career. The court handed him a jail term of two years.