Jubilation engulfed Oloshapani village in Narok South Sub County when two notorious criminals confessed their sins and vowed to engage in productive business.
The two Geoffrey Sang, 21 and Zacchaeus Cheruiyot, 50, admitted to being in possession of dangerous weapons like guns, which they used to terrorize the residents by stealing their livestock and transporting them to sell in other counties.
They were confessing during the International Peace Day attended by County Commissioner Isaac Masinde, and County Executive Member in Charge of Public Service Ms. Josephine Ngeno among other leaders.
On his part, Sang shocked the curious crowd by revealing that he joined a gang of criminals six years ago when he had travelled to live in Laikipia County.
“There in Laikipia, I became an expert in handling guns. Sometimes we would travel to West Pokot, where we stole tens of livestock,” he said, adding that, in all that period, he escaped arrest from the police.
Sang said when he came back to his home county, Narok, he met Mzee Cheruiyot who became his boss in the criminal activities and together they engaged in theft.
On the other hand, Mzee Cheruiyot confessed to possessing a gun (didn’t describe the type) that he bought from neighbouring Uganda to carry out criminal business.
Cheruiyot said when neighbours knew of their wicked business, they burnt their homesteads to ashes and took off with his three cows and a goat.
“This pained me a lot and I knew my life was ending in the wrong direction. I sat and made a decision to confess my sins and change from my evil deeds,” he said.
The duo confessed to using some medicine they got from a witch doctor that they believed protected them from the long arm of the law.
“I believe the medicine worked because when we entered a homestead to steal, no one heard our movements. The dogs did not bark at us and we always escaped arrest,” confessed Cheruiyot.
After confessing their sins, they were led to salvation by Narok County Interfaith Chairman Bishop Peter Nakola, who asked the society not to judge them for their past sins, but to accept them as their brothers.
Masinde thanked the two reformed criminals for changing their course and accepting to do productive business to develop themselves.
He however warned them that if they returned to their evil business, they would face a stern punishment.
Masinde recalled that a few years ago, the Oloshapan area was a centre of chaos as the Kipsigis and Maasai communities living in the area engaged in on-and-off fights.
This, Masinde regretted, led to the killing of eight people and the burning down of ten schools and several homesteads.