A 22-year-old young man, who won the hearts of most Kenyans on Monday, after he pleaded guilty for attempting to sneak his 2-month-old baby out of Kenyatta National Hospital has been freed.

Boniface Murage told the Milimani Resident Magistrate Muthoni Nzibe that he had made the move because he did not have the Sh 56,000 to settle the hospital bill and feared his baby would be forced to stay at the hospital for an unknown period of time.

Kenyans took to social media to give accolade to Murage, calling him a hero but at the same time condemned the government for failing to provide, quality and affordable public healthcare.

A well-wisher cleared the hospital bill.

The magistrate, who was to sentence Murage today, handed the 22-year-old man a three-month suspended sentence noting that the hospital bill had been settled.

A suspended sentence is a prison sentence that is not put into immediate effect. It allows a judge to decide that the offense is serious enough for a jail term, but in the particular circumstances of the case, some or all of the imprisonment should be suspended.

Lawyer Wahome Thuku, while commenting on the trending story on his Facebook,  had shared the gravity of the Murage’s offence saying it would attract a fine of Sh 500,000 according to the Penal Code.

“This guy Boniface Murage was actually charged with an attempt to commit a crime contrary to section 389 of the Penal Code and the crime is to defraud KNH some 56k by taking away his one-month-old baby without clearing the bill. The penalty under that law should be half of the amount of fine for actual defrauding KNH. That is to say if he would be fined 1 million for the fraud, he should pay maximum 500k for attempting. He may be a criminal by law but a hero by the standards of every father worth the title,” said Wahome Thuku.