Eldoret: 17-year-old girl jailed for her mother's crime freed from jail

A 17-year-old girl in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County is spending the night at home for the first time in three weeks after being released from jail for her mother's crime.

The minor was arrested, charged and jailed for aiding her mother brew chang’aa in Eldama Ravine.

On this day, Chepkorir (not her real name) has a good reason to smile. She had been incarcerated for the last 21 days with her freedom coming courtesy of a well-wisher's empathy.

Chepkorir's troubles started with her quest for fees. The Form Four student says on that fateful day she was assisting her mum earn money by brewing traditional liquor or chang'aa when police officers struck

“…ilikuwa Saturday ndio walikuja wakanibeba. Nikalala Iten… tukaletwa Monday nikafunguliwa, nikaenda kortini. Nikajaribu kuongelesha judge hakuniamini. Nilikuwa nasaidia mama juu hiyo ndio ilikuwa school fees yangu,” she says.

Chepkorir says she was overwhelmed and disoriented when charged in court. She did not mount a defence. Alone in the dock, after her mother fled the scene of the incident, the minor was left to face the consequences of her family's poverty.

Her father visited her once, before also leaving her to her own devices in the women's prison, an experience she says she will not be forgetting any time soon.

“…hapo sasa vile niflifungwa nilisikia mbaya… nilikuwa tu nalia every day, every night, nilikuwa nalianga tu,” she adds.

Her ordeal behind bars is now over, courtesy of well-wishers who paid the Ksh.30,000 fine that had been imposed. In lieu of payment of that fine, she was to serve a six-month jail sentence, her freedom comes after serving three months.

She is one of hundreds of children serving time in Eldoret, a situation that has the Eldoret law court's magistrate concerned, asking that an alternative dispute resolution be engaged for minors who break the law.

Chepkorir is now setting her sights on getting back the time she has lost in her education and pursue her dream of becoming an engineer and lifting her famlly from poverty, despite them abandoning her in her time of need.