Life as Edwin Gathigi knew it changed the night he was summoned by his grandparents and accused of raping his younger cousin, an allegation that would throw him into a nightmare he never imagined possible.
It was during the December school holidays in November 2023, and Edwin, then a Form Four student at Kihuti secondary school, was visiting his grandparents together with several cousins in Mukurweini in Nyeri County.
They spent their days the way many families do during school breaks, sharing meals, telling stories and passing time in the comfort of home. Nothing about the visit suggested that it would end in tragedy.
But one evening after supper, as everyone prepared to retire for the night, Edwin was called into the sitting room by his grandparents.
The meeting held unusually late at around 10 pm immediately unsettled him, and he sensed something was wrong even before a word was spoken.
That is when his grandmother dropped the bombshell: one of his younger cousins had accused him of rape.
“The thought alone was horrifying, and I had never imagined committing such an act. I denied it immediately and told them I was ready to undergo any medical examination to clear my name,” he said in an interview.
But his defence did not matter. His grandmother, he recalls, insisted that the cousin’s accusation was final. Overwhelmed and in tears, Edwin walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.
Soon, the matter found its way to a police station where the family was advised to resolve the issue amicably within 20 days before it escalated into a court case. They were warned that once a defilement case reaches court, it cannot be withdrawn.
Yet only hours after that warning, police officers came for him
Edwin remembers being handcuffed and taken away marking the end of the life he had known. By his own calculation, he believed freedom would only return decades later.
On January 22, 2025, he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mukurweini Magistrates court.
Until then, Edwin says, he had never imagined he would ever see the inside of a prison cell let alone be condemned to one for life. As he walked into King’ong’o Prison in Nyeri, questions flooded his mind saying he could not understand why fate had settled on him.
Edwin Gathigi, 19, with his mother, Irene Gathigi, during an interview in Nairobi on February 10, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
“You may walk in as a good person but the environment can easily harden you. I spent one year behind bars before I was released last month and stepping outside again felt like reclaiming something I thought was lost forever.I had missed the sense of freedom,” he says in an interview with Nation.africa.
After conviction, Edwin appealed to the Nyeri High Court which ruled in his favour and judge DKN Magare set him free on January 21, 2026.
The legal process drained the family financially leaving them struggling. Edwin has since been forced to defer his dream of becoming a nurse even as he also faces complications obtaining a national identification card.
Yet while in custody, something shifted. While serving in the prison dispensary, he discovered a love for nursing that became more than a passing thought.
“I want to go back to school and pursue my dream,” says Edwin, who scored a C- in KCSE.
Now, he is slowly picking up the pieces of his life, one by one, even as the experience has reshaped how he sees people and the world.
“When you go through something like mine you learn to choose the right friends,” he reflects.
He says prison nights were the hardest as in the silence, thoughts grew louder and hope often flickered between survival and despair.
For his mother, Irene Wairimu Gathigi watching her son go through the ordeal was devastating. The person pushing the accusations, she says, was a close relative but their relationship had already been fractured long before.
Even after attempts at reconciliation, Ms Wairimu says trust never fully returned and today they do not speak at all.
Prison life, he says, was unforgiving. Food was monotonous with ugali, beans and boiled kale while freedom, time and dignity were rationed.
“When you’re imprisoned, you’re like the walking dead. You are alive, but at the same time, you are dead inside, and you can do nothing about it.”
Yet somehow, forgiveness followed.
“I have forgiven everyone who got me jailed, including my grandmother,” he says.
Irene, too, says healing is slow, but possible.
“Forgiveness is not easy,” she adds, “but I learnt the truth.”
