Kamiti 2021 escape was planned, court finds as terrorists get 15 more years

Three terrorists who staged a daring escape from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in 2021 have been handed an additional 15 years each in prison after a Kahawa court found them guilty of escaping from lawful custody.

The court sentenced Musharaf Abdala, Mohamed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo to serve the new prison terms after completing their existing sentences.

In Abdala’s case, the sentence will run from the date he was acquitted by the High Court in a separate case.

The trio, all convicted of terrorism-related offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), escaped from the country's most secure prison on the night of November 14 and the morning of November 15, 2021, triggering a nationwide manhunt before they were recaptured at the Kitui-Tana River border.

In its judgment, the court found that the three acted in concert throughout their escape and subsequent movements, demonstrating a common intention to evade recapture.

The court noted that after breaking out of Kamiti Prison, the convicts remained together rather than separating, travelling from Nairobi to Kitui and later to Endao using motorcycles, public service vehicles and informal routes.

“If their only intention was to flee and evade recapture, it would have made more sense to split up and go in different directions. This would have reduced their chances of detection,” the court ruled.

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