On December 30, 2013 – nine months after Nderitu Gachagua was elected the first ever Nyeri Governor – a gang led by Jackson Kihara Gachucha attacked Alphaxad Mahindu Kiringu and stole his Toyota Sienta. Gachucha was arrested and charged with robbery with violence for stealing the vehicle valued at Sh760,000.
While that case was still before court, Gachucha was arrested for stealing another car on April 27, 2015. This time, the vehicle was a Toyota Axio owned by David Gitari Kinyunjuri, and was valued at Sh650,000.
Both cases against Gachucha were determined in 2016. The Toyota Sienta case birthed an initial 14-year prison sentence, which was later reduced to six years upon Gachucha’s appeal.
At the same time, Nderitu Gachagua was alive and campaigning for a second term as Nyeri governor. His brother, Rigathi Gachagua, was also on the campaign trail, seeking what would become his first and only term as Mathira MP.
Nearly a decade and multiple failed appeals later, Gachucha has yet again challenged his conviction, this time dragging the Gachagua family name into the saga.
Drops Gachucha surname, picks Gachagua
Jackson Kihara Gachucha, a man who was jailed for 20 years for robbery with violence, at the Milimani High Court on May 21, 2026. He appeared to appeal his jail term.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
In an attempt to have the Court of Appeal review its decision to uphold his 20-year sentence, he has now dropped the Gachucha surname and rebranded to Jackson Gachagua, claiming to be a son of the former Nyeri Governor and nephew of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
This was reflected in several news reports of his appearance in court last week, with media outlets referring to him as Nderitu Gachagua's son.
In his new court appeal, fundamentally, he claims that Gachagua, while serving as Deputy President, abused State powers to frame him for the carjackings. Rigathi Gachagua, however, was elected Deputy President in 2022, when Gachucha was already completing his punishment for the Toyota Sienta theft but left with 14 years to serve for the Toyota Axio theft.
Ex-DP Gachagua has responded to the saga, claiming that Gachucha was coached by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as part of a plot allegedly hatched at State House.
“The other day they went to Manyani. They looked for a criminal who was jailed there for 20 years, a robber, and told him to say that he is a son of my late brother. Nobody knows him, we have never seen him. In my late brother’s Will, he was not there. Even looking at him, he does not look like us. The fellow is saying, ‘Riggy G organised for me to be jailed because my father had died. And, he had left secrets with me and Riggy G wanted those secrets. So, Riggy G organised I be jailed for 20 years’. Now, this man was jailed in 2013. Nderitu was governor in 2013, he died in 2017 here in London… And he said, it is State House people who came, and DCI had told me, if I say something wrong against Riggy G, they can help me to leave prison. I am still in prison now, they have not helped me,” Mr Gachagua said during one of the meetings in his political diaspora tour.
Gachucha maintains that Rigathi Gachagua’s alleged frame job was a move to disinherit him in Nderitu Gachagua’s succession.
However, Nderitu Gachagua died on February 24, 2017 – nearly a year after Gachucha was ushered into Manyani Maximum Security Prison. The former governor was a multimillionaire, and his Will is celebrated as one of the best crafted.
The Will catered for children from his marriages and those born out of wedlock. Gachucha is not mentioned in the Will.
He's also not mentioned in the official obituary published in the Daily Nation on March 4, 2017.
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
While appearing before the High Court last week to appeal his conviction, he claimed to be the late governor's son. Despite his assertions, Gachucha did not provide documentary evidence linking him to the late Gachagua. He also failed to produce a birth certificate or any other proof establishing his relationship with the Gachagua family.
Jackson Kihara Gachucha, a man who was jailed for 20 years for robbery with violence, at the Milimani High Court on May 21, 2026. He appeared to appeal his jail term.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
Gachucha, who was brought to the Milimani Law Courts under heavy security on May 21, 2026, told the court his troubles with the law began in 2013 and 2015, when he was charged in two separate robbery cases.
Court records show that in the first case, Gachucha and accomplices robbed Alphazard Mahinu Kiringu of a motor vehicle valued at Sh760,000 on December 30, 2013. The gang was reportedly armed with knives during the incident.
A Nyeri court convicted him and sentenced him to death. However, the High Court later overturned the sentence on appeal. In a judgment delivered on May 9, 2019, the court ruled that the offence of robbery with violence under Section 296(2) of the Penal Code had not been fully proved and instead substituted the conviction with simple robbery under Section 296(1).
The judge also noted that Gachucha was a first offender and reduced the sentence to six years, effective September 5, 2016.
During the appeal, Gachucha argued that he had not been positively identified by the complainant and alleged that police compromised the identification parade by providing his description beforehand.
He also claimed inconsistencies in the complainant’s testimony regarding his complexion and argued that the knife allegedly used during the robbery was never produced in court as evidence.
Despite those objections, the High Court upheld the finding that he had been positively identified.
In the second case, Gachucha was accused of robbing David Gitari Kinyanjui at the Kobil Petrol Station along Lang’ata Road in Nairobi on April 27, 2015.
Evidence tabled in court showed that he and another person, while armed with a dangerous weapon, stole a motor vehicle valued at Sh650,000 and used actual violence during the robbery. Senior Principal Magistrate Hellen Onkwani convicted him and imposed the death penalty.
Gachucha successfully appealed against the conviction, prompting then High Court Judge Ngenye Macharia to quash both the conviction and sentence and order a retrial.
The case was heard afresh by senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi, who on April 20, 2020 sentenced Kihara to 20 years in prison.
The sentence was later upheld by the late Justice Daniel Ogembo and subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Justice Ogembo ruled that the punishment was lawful and appropriate, stating that there was no basis for interfering with either the conviction or the sentence.
Appeal on grounds of 'compelling evidence'
Rather than escalating the matter to the Supreme Court, Gachucha has now turned to Article 50(6) of the Constitution, which allows courts to review criminal convictions where new and compelling evidence emerges.
Before Justice Muteti, Gachucha claimed he had obtained fresh evidence that could secure his release. He alleged he had written to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and Chief Justice Martha Koome seeking assistance.
He further claimed the ODPP had promised to help him regain his freedom, although prosecutors denied the allegation in court.
The prosecution nevertheless urged the court to allow Gachucha’s sentence to run from 2019, when he was charged afresh following the retrial order.
Gachucha’s most dramatic claims centred on what he described as a bitter inheritance dispute within the Gachagua family. He alleged that he was framed after refusing to surrender sensitive documents relating to the late governor’s estate.
According to Gachucha, the documents were entrusted to him by his alleged father and hidden in a secret location known only to him.
“I am in this situation because I declined to give my uncle documents entrusted to me by my late father in relation to the family estate,” Gachucha told the court.
He claimed the documents were vital to a succession dispute involving the family’s multi-million-shilling property and said he intended to hand them over to other family members.
In an unusual development, Justice Muteti directed prison authorities to escort Gachucha to the undisclosed location to retrieve the documents.
“The Officer in Charge of Manyani Maximum Security Prison is hereby directed to escort the prisoner to a secret location, to be disclosed by the convict, to collect documents he is keeping for use in any intended dispute regarding the estate of his late father,” the judge ordered.
Gachucha further alleged that he had remained silent about the matter between 2015 and 2020 because he feared for his life.
Asked by the court why he had chosen to speak out now, he replied: “The State promised me security and safety.”
He also claimed that efforts to resolve the dispute outside court had failed, including attempts by relatives and his sister to reach the former Deputy President – Mr Gachagua.
Court records, however, indicate that Gachucha’s first conviction and imprisonment occurred in March 2015 while the late Nderitu was still alive, raising further questions about the timeline of his allegations.
Justice Muteti noted that both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had upheld the findings of the magistrates’ court that Gachucha was properly convicted. The judge has since called for records from the magistrates’ court, the High Court and the Court of Appeal before determining whether the case meets the constitutional threshold for review.
Gachucha will remain in custody at Manyani Maximum Security Prison pending the ruling scheduled for June 17, 2026.
