14 years later, Mzee Chelimo walks free after conviction for defiling 4-year-old

Ezekiel Kipkosgei Chelimo, accompanied by colleagues Douglas Imwana and Andrew Maiy, (left) at the Eldoret GK Prison Uasin Gishu County. [Courtesy/Standard].

After spending 14 years behind bars for a crime he always maintained he did not commit, Mzee Ezekiel Kosgei Chelimo is finally a free man. However, the years have left him broken in more ways than one.

Mzee Chelimo, now 77, was convicted in 2011 for the defilement of a four-year-old girl contrary to section 8(3) of the Sexual Offences Act No 3 of 2006, a charge that shattered his world and tore him from his family and livelihood.