Paul Cheminingwa Chaplam and Andrew Masari Mali were convicted of storming a neighbour's house, fatally shooting some family members and burning their home.
The crimes occurred in Trans Nzoia in 2008 and they were convicted 10 years later in December 2018.
Today they are free men, due to a judgment on June 30.
The Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction and the sentence, setting them unless they lawfully held for another crime.
Their key to freedom was the controversy that surrounded the certainty of identification by the man of the home Robison Mbuya.
He told the court he used the light of the inferno and the shining moon to positively identify the two men.
Court documents indicate that on the day of the crimes, Mbuya, a police officer, was out at 2am on patrol nearby. He heard his wife screaming for help and saw his grass-thatched houses go up flames.
The homestead was surrounded by 10 suspected bandits armed with firearms and teargas, he testified
Mbuya’s wife and three children were shot dead in the house. His hired worker was killed in another house. His two other children escaped with burns.
Mbuya said he was able to identify the two convicts from the scene, adding they were his neighbours personally known to him.
One of the surviving daughters testified she saw Chaplam enter the house and shoot her mother and her three siblings.
“She saw and heard the second appellant [Mali] whom she knew by the nickname of 'House', telling the first appellant that her mother was not dead, prompting the first appellant to shoot her mother again.
She testified she knew the appellants as her neighbours and was able to see and identify them with the light from the fire burning the grass nearby,” the papers said.
Another daughter said she hid under her bed and saw the two men order her mother to open the house; then they shot her at point blank multiple times, alongside her three siblings.
The High Court convicted the two in December 2018, finding them guilty of a murder charges, sentencing ding them to life imprisonment.
But the three Court of Appeal judges concluded there was sufficient doubt about the identity of the assailants, hence, the case against the two was not proven beyond reasonable doubts.
At one point in the trial, Mbuya said he used a torch to identify the attackers, undermining his claim there was sufficient light from the inferno and the moon.
The two men’s lawyers also questioned credibility of the two surviving daughters, saying that the fact that they were under the bed meant it was impossible for them to see the faces of the two men because there was so much smoke in the house.
The prosecution rebutted the argument, saying that the incident unfolded over time, making it easy for the witnesses to recognise the appellants.
They also said the evidence placed the two at the scene and their involvement was corroborated.
“Counsel also argued the incident took time and therefore, the witnesses had ample opportunity to recognise the appellant in the circumstances,” according to the judgment.
The judges found the two were not properly recognised and linked to the crime.
“Our […] concern was that although the witnesses testified the assailants were neighbours who were well known to them, they did not supply their names in the first report to the police. Lastly, we observe that the offences occurred on March 3, 2008, and it was not until 18th February 18, 2009, almost a year later that the appellants were arrested.”
