Justice Stephen Githinji's judgment was short and sweet to Ali Kololo's ears. Kololo's face lit up and he smiled.
For a man who had been behind bars for 11 years, moving around in handcuffs, and wearing kungurus (prison attires), the news sounded like music to his ears.
The judge's verdict confirmed that the criminal justice system had nailed the wrong man for the abduction of British tourist Judith Tebbutt and for the murder of her husband David in 2011.
So, who is to blame for the injustice? Is it the Scotland Yard investigator who lied to fix Kololo, the Director of Public Prosecutions who did not find the gaps before approving the charges, the magistrate who failed to smell the lies, or the judges who confirmed the conviction?
Kololo is the poster boy for costly blunders in the criminal justice system. He was on death row, condemned as a terrorist and a murderer, the epitome of Al Shabaab's heinous acts in Kenya.
But he was innocent.
Judith told The Standard that Kololo looked like a caged animal.
Justice Githinji said: "The conviction was unsafe. He is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. He is released unless otherwise legally held."
Kololo's release on Thursday brought relief to Judith. She said seeing Kololo in the dock was painful and regretted it. She said he was not part of those who abducted her and killed her husband.
"I maintain that he was not part of the group that murdered my husband, David, then abducted me and held me hostage for six months. Over the last ten years, I have understood how unfair his original trial in Lamu was and how the balance of power was stacked against him.
"I feel concerned that the British police have been deeply implicated in this travesty of justice. An innocent man and his children have been denied a life together over the last decade," said Judith.
Judith who was freed after her son negotiated a ransom said that she was unable to move on as an innocent man had been languishing behind bars.
She continued: "Ali I am so sorry that this happened to you and that you, your family, and children have suffered so much. What happened to you was not right, but I hope that over time you can all make a life for yourselves and find peace."
The 41-year-old father of two was behind bars for 11 years. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for robbery with violence. The sentence was however commuted to life.
Somali pirates killed David while he was touring Lamu, kidnapped his wife, and held her for six months. The Metropolitan Police sent a team of officers to help the Kenyan counterparts.
Investigations by the UK's Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on how a senior Metropolitan Police Officer Neil Hibberd conducted himself during investigations and hearing of the case reveal that he lied to the Kenyan Court and hid crucial forensic evidence that would have assisted the court to determine whether Kololo committed a crime.
The UK police oversight body said that were it not that Hibberd is now a retired officer, he would face a charge of gross misconduct. He retired on December 15, 2017.
"... No disciplinary proceedings can be brought against him. Mr. Hibberd has still been serving in the police, there is sufficient evidence on which a reasonable and properly directed panel could, on the balance of probabilities, find misconduct. If in my opinion this threshold is met, I then determine the severity of the case to answer," IOPC said.
Court of Appeal record revealed that Judith was not able to identify against Kololo as one of the assailants during the trial.
Hibberd led a Scotland Yard counter-terrorism team that was sent to Kenya to hunt for the killers. His team was to work alongside Kenyan police.
Subsequently, he was a star witness, leading to the conviction of Kololo.
The investigations concluded that between September 11, 2011, and July 29, 2013, while in Kenya, Hibberd acted outside his mandate by receiving information from Kololo knowing that it may have been obtained through torture.
Hibberd is also accused of writing a statement that contained opinions and hearsay.
"Based on available information, I am of the view that there is insufficient evidence upon which a reasonable tribunal, properly directed, could find misconduct/gross misconduct in relation to Hibberd's statement containing hearsay and opinion," IOPC's document sent to justice lobby Reprieve read in part.
During the trial, Hibberd told the court that forensic evidence confirmed that Kololo's shoes were the same ones, which had left impressions at the scene.
However, investigations detailed that the forensic evidence was inconclusive on the link between the tanga shoes and the footprints on the beach.
In 2016, Reprieve, on behalf of Kololo wrote to the Department of Professional Standards, Metropolitan Police to carry out investigations. The charity group in its letter indicated Kololo was a woodcutter and a honey gatherer.
Kololo's lawyer Alfred Olaba said that Justice Githinji had finally corrected a terrible wrong.
"It is hard to talk of justice when an innocent young man has lost 11 years of his life to an unfair trial, but today Kenyan courts finally began to right this terrible wrong.," he said.
