FOOLHARDY: Man gets extra time for escape from jail - with only 16 days left to freedom

Fed up with life in prison, an inmate who was left with only 16 days to complete his nine-month jail term made a daring escape while his cell mates were fast asleep.

Stephen Ndegwa managed to jump over the Maranjau Prison wall and run away.

Unfortunately, his dash to freedom on September 8 was short-lived. When Mr Ndegwa was discovered missing from the prison, the warders launched a major manhunt.

The convict was finally cornered by the officers, who found him stranded along the Kenol-Sagana road, hours after he had left the prison.

The prosecution told the court that Ndegwa was serving the nine-month sentence after he was found guilty of assault.

Remained silent

Given a chance for mitigation, Ndegwa opted to remain silent before the court handed him a two-year sentence - in addition to his pending 16 days - with a warning against repeating the offence.

"It is an offence to escape from lawful custody and you will serve 24 months in jail for the offence committed," Kigumo Resident Magistrate Agnes Mwangi said.

Maranjau Prison is located in a remote part of Kambiti ward in Murang'a County.

In the same court, a man was sentenced to three years in prison after he was found guilty of assaulting his brother with a machete.

The suspect, David Ngure, was accused of attacking his brother, Paul Karanja, on November 25, 2016, at Gakuyu village in Kigumo sub-county.

Mr Karanja said his brother attacked him with the intention of killing him but neighbours came to his rescue.

Medical reports produced in court from Murang'a District Hospital, where Karanja was admitted for three weeks, showed that he suffered deep cuts in his hands.

The brothers had been embroiled in a protracted family dispute over land.