A Mother Who Raised Her Children Alone Is Now Rotting in Prison Because of the Child She Raised
Mama Judith Simiyu, a grandmother from Bungoma living with diabetes, arthritis, and hypertension, is serving a 15-year sentence at Langata Women’s Prison for a crime her family says she never committed. The person who put her there is her own daughter.
Judith’s story begins decades ago. When her daughter Vivian was just eight years old, Judith separated from her husband and left for Juba, where she worked alone to raise her children. As conditions in South Sudan worsened, she relocated to Mandera and continued providing for her family without any support.
When Vivian completed her education and settled in Mombasa, she invited her aging mother to come and live with her. Judith accepted and moved in to help care for Vivian’s eight-month-old baby boy. For the next five years, Judith raised that grandchild as her own since she was not employed and childcare was the only contribution she could offer.
When Vivian later got married, Judith felt it was time to return home. That decision did not sit well with Vivian.
In November 2024, Vivian called her mother and persuaded her to travel to Nairobi for prayers with a visiting man of God. Judith initially refused. Vivian insisted, sent her fare, and Judith made the trip on November 11th alongside her brother. They were housed in Airbnb rooms behind Coptic Hospital, rooms Vivian uses for business purposes.
After attending the prayers on the 13th, Vivian told her mother the rooms were fully booked and she would need to share a room with her seven-year-old grandson. Judith again resisted. Again, Vivian insisted.
The following morning, the 14th, Judith asked for fare to travel back home. Vivian gave her three thousand shillings and left for work.
Before leaving, Judith had a quarrel with Dorcas, a niece who was staying with Vivian. Dorcas had a complicated personal history. She had fled her first marriage, remarried a man who paid her dowry, built her parents a home, and even drilled a borehole for the family. After her father died, she abandoned that marriage too. Judith’s frustration with Dorcas over these choices is what sparked the confrontation that morning.
Judith left the house with Dorcas and her grandsons heading to the stage to board a bus home. Shortly after, Vivian called asking why her mother had slept with her seven-year-old son. She had been told this by Dorcas. Judith was stunned but continued the journey.
She later received a call instructing her to surrender at Kilimani Police Station. She was accused of defiling her own grandson. The DCI in Bungoma arrested her and transported her to Nairobi.
She was charged and convicted without a medical assessment conducted in her presence or what her family describes as a fair hearing. The doctor’s report shows the boy was examined on the 13th, yet Dorcas claimed she discovered him unconscious after the alleged defilement on the 14th. The medical report cited dirt associated with sexual activity found on the child’s private parts.
Judith was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
She is now an elderly woman battling diabetes, arthritis, and hypertension, locked away in Langata Women’s Prison, convicted on the testimony of a niece whose quarrel with her that morning set everything in motion. A cousin turned a daughter against her own mother, and an old woman is paying the price
