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By:
Vincent Mabatuk | |||||||||
| Posted:
Jan,24-2016 16:38:55
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A former inmate, who recently received presidential pardon after serving 27 years in jail for robbery with violence, finally wedded his wife Josephine Wanjiru in a colourful church ceremony in Nakuru town.
Sunday, Charles Kinyua, 52, said he was fulfilling a promise he made to his childhood sweetheart before he was arrested and convicted in 1989.
He walked Wanjiru down the aisle at Emmanuel PCEA Church in Heshima, Nakuru North district in the presence of family members and friends.
When he was handed the death sentence, their first born was only two while, Wanjiru, then in her 20s, was three months pregnant with their second child.
Shortly before he was arrested for a crime he maintains he never committed, Kinyua had visited Wanjiru's family and conducted a Kikuyu traditional marriage ceremony.
He could not, however, take their relationship to the next level after he found himself on the wrong side of the law. Until his release, Kinyua languished behind the towering walls of Kamiti Maximum Prison.
The father of two, who was set free following President Uhuru Kenyatta's pardon last year, Sunday declined to explain the circumstances that led to his arrest and imprisonment.
"I am extremely excited to be a free man again. But going back to the actual circumstances of the mistake I committed will take me back to the dark days. It will open the wounds again," said Kinyua, who graduated with a diploma in theology while in prison.
Now a grandfather
When he was released last month, his first born son Kevin was already 30 years and the second born James aged 28 years. Both are married and have beautiful grandchildren.
"Many facing similar punishments died inside the prison walls but I lack words to express my gratitude to God for granting me another opportunity to reunite with my sweetheart," said his wife. Wanjiru said through the help of God and friends, she successfully educated her children through farming. "This is a miracle; our father left home 27 years ago, only three years after marrying our mother and he has returned a grandfather," said Kevin. The ceremony was attended by relatives and hundreds of church members and senior prison officials from Kamiti. Dressed in a long, light blue dress, complete with black shoes, dark green earrings and a matching necklace, Josephine said that she felt lonely after the arrest and sub-subsequent conviction of her youthful husband. "Something immediately whispered into my heart that I should commit suicide, but along the way, a second voice told me otherwise. From this point, I decided to seek guidance from the church and got saved," she said sobbing. Frequent visits She said she frequently visited her husband with their children while he was behind bars.
"Yes, I was young and had the potential of getting married again, but I thank God because of his love and guidance," she added.
There was singing and dancing inside and outside the church as the couple made a grand entry led by church leaders amid ululation by the congregation and church choir.
The missing white gown did not stop the church from taking the two through the normal wedding rituals.
The couple kissed in front of the church before exchanging their marriage vows.
Tears of joy ran down the cheeks of the couple as women wept uncontrollably during the 30-minute ceremony.
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