The handcuffs were meant to keep Alex Kibisu in custody. Instead, they became part of a dramatic escape that turned the Kibera Law Courts into the starting point of a fugitive's flight—and, ultimately, the setting for his return.
In July 2025, Kibisu reportedly escaped from the court cells while still handcuffed, scaled the perimeter wall and disappeared into the maze of Kibera. But he could not escape the case.
Kibisu had been due in court for sentencing on an additional armed robbery charge. At the time, he was already serving a 20-year prison sentence at Kamiti Prison for violent robbery offences. His earlier cases had initially attracted death sentences before an appeal substituted them with 20-year prison terms on each count.
The escape only added another dramatic chapter to his criminal proceedings.
When Kibisu eventually returned before the court, the circumstances of his flight formed part of the background considered during sentencing. The court noted that he was not a first-time offender and that he had fled despite having been given an opportunity to participate in the proceedings.
The court told him: “Umedhibitishia koti kwamba wewe sio mhalifu wa mara ya kwanza, ulitoroka mahakamani wakati ulipewa nafasi ujitetee kwa hivyo ukaforfeit right yako ya kuwa mahakamani.”
The court also noted that Kibisu had offered no explanation for his escape, despite having already been convicted in another case at Kibera for violent robbery. “Nikizingatia jinsi umeweza kujiendeleza katika koti hii, hakuna sababu yoyote ambayo umeeleza kwa nini ulitoroka mahakamani. Tayari ulikuwa umefungwa na koti hapa Kibra, kwa kosa la wizi wa kimabavu.”
Then came the decisive moment. The court turned to the law governing the offence and stated that, in the circumstances before it, the law provided for one punishment. “Na Sheria ambayo ilikushtaki inatoa hukumu moja tu, na hiyo ndio hukumu ambayo nitatekeleza — Nimekuhukumu kifo.”
Death.
With those words, the extraordinary journey came full circle. The man who had once slipped from the court's custody, climbed its perimeter wall and vanished into one of Nairobi's most densely populated neighbourhoods was back in the same judicial system he had attempted to outrun.
The wall had offered temporary freedom. The proceedings continued. The case remained alive. And Kibisu eventually found himself back in the dock, facing the consequences of the armed robbery case and the circumstances surrounding his escape.
From handcuffs to the wall, from the streets of Kibera back to the dock, the escape that briefly turned a prisoner into a fugitive ended where his legal journey had begun—with Kibisu before the court.
This time, there was no wall to climb. Only the sentence.
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