December 13, 1998. 3.00pm.

Joel Kabare, a seasoned gangster bursts into a Wines and Spirits shop in Nakuru town, accompanied by his two colleagues.

The three men are armed with a pistol, swords and the bravado of 100 men. Their aim is to rob Mr John Kahiga’s shop and escape unharmed, a skill that Kabare has mastered having been a robber for four years now.

Read: My life in Nakuru GK prison

Using intimidation and violence where necessary, Kabare and his friends force Kahiga and his employee, to lie down.

Just as planned, Kabare forcefully gets into Kahiga’s pockets, removing keys to the safe. After cleaning out the safe, the three men exit the shop near Jamia mosque with a bag containing one million shillings.

Mr Kahiga has no idea that this robbery has been planned for one month.

“It took us seconds to rob him, as one month before, we had mischievously presented ourselves to him as customers, just for us to know where he puts his money,” Kabare narrates at his carpentry shop in Kiamaina, Bahati.

Kabare works on a stool at his shop in Kiamaina.

Photo credit: WINNIE KIMANI/MTAA WANGU

With the loot in hand, the three men took off towards Eveready factory aiming for a ‘safe house’ where the money would be distributed.

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Back in Nakuru town, Mr Kahiga had alerted a team of police officers who were on patrol about this unfortunate incident.

The police officers immediately picked up Kabare’s trail, guided by his attire of the day; a white cap and a blue jumper.

“We were a few kilometres from the scene, when I looked behind and saw a police car moving in our direction. Before I knew it, I was shot in the waist and fell,” he recalls.

Mr Kabare says the next thing he remembers was being in the Nakuru central police station.

“I was later taken to Nakuru Teaching and Referral hospital (PGH) to get the bullets out before going back to the station. This was the worst day of my life.”

As fate would have it, Kabare went through a yearlong court case where he was found guilty of robbery with violence and sentenced to death. His new home became the Nakuru GK prison.

In 2003, former President the late Mwai Kibaki pardoned him and others changing his judgement to life sentence.

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“I tried to appeal the sentence seeking a reduction but it was denied twice. The third time the court agreed, and I got 22 years down from life sentence,” he says.

Having served his time, Kabare left the prison walls in 2021.

Some of the items Kabare has made at his workshop in Kiamaina.

Photo credit: WINNIE KIMANI/MTAA WANGU

In hind sight, Kabare says the juvenile need to make quick money was meaningless, as he hardly did anything constructive with it.

“All it earned me was being behind bars,” he says with sadness in his eyes.

Mr Kabare is now rebuilding his life currently serving as a catechist in Holy Trinity Catholic Church. He also does Upholstery and Joinery at his carpentry shop.

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Reformed gangster recounts his last 'job' that got him 22 years in jail

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Winnie Kimani