It was a taboo in many African cultural beliefs to confiscate stolen foodstuffs from a cornered thief whose only compulsion force to steal was driven by hunger; especially if it wasn’t within the suspect’s disposition to steal. The suspect would get away with a reprimand plus the stolen stuffs or a fraction of it that could sustain them for a meal or two as they such for a genuine alternative source.
Such wasn’t the case for Calvin Linus, whose video went viral recently in social media after having been caught with stolen foodstuffs from Naivas Supermarket accused of shoplifting. The foodstuffs were snatched from him and in just after two days, his case was dispensed with in a court of law and he found himself in the dingy prison’s rooms of Industrial Area GK Prison where he spent a chilling debilitating night. This was after having spent another night in the Central Police Station where he was booked before being charged in Milimani Law Courts. Even though Linus is a reformed drug addict who graduated from Ngara Rehabilitation Center, he has never been found in the wrong side of the law.
Appearing in Mungai Eve’s Show, Linus says that he was compelled to steal so as to have something to take home for his four year old son and a wife. He was only having Ksh.30 at that time that wasn’t even enough for his bus fare back to Pipeline Estate where he started living in 2020 after relocating from Kangemi Estate from the other family members. From his narration, Linus says that he grew up in penury after his parents separated; his mum leaving him under the care of “uncaring” dad with three other siblings. He hasn’t met his mum since 2015.
In order to abide by the law, he scouted for a job in Pipeline where he landed one as a handyman in a furniture store; a job that couldn’t last more than three months. This left him with an option of living a life of a vagabond; sometimes going back to his wife with nothing, a situation that escalated to this vice that now puts him in the limelight.
However, there is a silver lining under any cloudy situation. The viral nature with which his escaped snowballed seemed to have come as a blessing in disguise after a comedian Oliver Omondi aka YY alongside Mike Sonko coming to his rescue Sonko paid his court’s ransom of Ksh100000. His rent arrears of Ksh14000 were settled and he secured a job with Sonko’s organization as a caretaker. Through his excruciating experience in the cells and prison for those two nights, he advises the youths to try not to fall on the wrong side of the law.
Written by Simon Bodo
