Seven-year battle ends in freedom for Lodwar woman accused of gun possession

When police flagged down a government Land Cruiser on the dusty Lodwar–Kakuma road in May 2018, what they found inside would trigger a legal battle lasting seven years. Hidden in gunny bags were six AK-47 rifles, six magazines and 30 rounds of ammunition.

Among those arrested that day was Rebecca Esekon, a young woman who insisted she was nothing more than a hitchhiker catching a ride. But the system saw her differently.

Within a year, she had been convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Her pleas of innocence—that she had no luggage beyond a handbag, that she had no idea what the vehicle was carrying and even signed police papers she couldn’t understand—were dismissed first by the trial magistrate, then by the High Court. Both courts ruled that her mere presence in the vehicle was enough to amount to “possession.”

Esekon did not give up. She took her fight to the Court of Appeal in Nakuru. There, judges carefully revisited the meaning of possession under Kenyan law. Did she truly have “conscious possession”—knowledge and control—of the cache of weapons? Or was she simply in the wrong car at the wrong time?

This time, the court sided with her.

“From these uncontroverted facts, it cannot be said that the prosecution established… that they jointly had possession of the firearms,” the judges wrote, faulting the lower courts for disregarding her defence. They stressed that the burden of proof lies with the prosecution, not the accused.

With those words, the conviction was quashed. On September 19, after seven years of stigma, prison and endless appeals, Esekon walked free.

Instant analysis:

The ruling underscores that possession of firearms is not about proximity but about knowledge and control. It also shows the appellate court’s willingness to correct miscarriages of justice where trial courts shift the burden of proof and overlook fair trial standards.