A man on Tuesday walked to freedom after the High Court in Nakuru quashed his earlier sentence for defilement.
John Wambugu Wangechi got the reprieve after Lady Justice Maureen Odero set aside the life sentence over inconsistencies that he said plagued the prosecution's evidence.
Odero faulted the lower court for failing to categorically determine the age of the minor alleged to have been defiled in 2013.
In her ruling, Judge Odero stated that the age of the minor was inconsistent with her birth certificate and her own testimony.
"There is a sharp contrast between the age of the minor. In her testimony she said she said she was aged 6 while the birth certificate indicates she was born on November 2010. It is equally strange that the parents of the minor insisted that she was 3. These inconsistencies are so glaring and the prosecution has not proved their case," she said.
She added that the name of the child as indicated on the birth card had been overwritten to be in harmony with her name yet it was not.
She further averred that the minor appeared to have been coached.
"In light of the above errors I find the ruling faulty and set aside the sentence," she ruled.