By Riches Soberekon
A court in Nairobi has acquitted Gilbert Deya, an evangelical Pastor from Kenya, of charges that he stole children and presented them as “miracle babies” that were born as a result of his prayers, citing a lack of evidence.
According to the prosecution, Deya and his wife Mary were accused of taking children from hospitals and other locations in Nairobi and falsely declaring that they were born to infertile women who had prayed to Deya.
Gilbert Deya, who was a stonemason before moving to London in the 1990s, was charged with kidnapping five children between 1999 to 2004, However, The court concluded that the prosecution had failed to provide enough evidence to support the charges against Deya, and as such, he was acquitted.
According to the prosecution, the babies were actually abducted, with most of them being taken from the maternity ward of Pumwani Hospital, which is located in a poor suburb of Nairobi.
John Swaka, Deya’s attorney, stated that the accusations leveled against his client were untrue, and Deya was content with the decision of the court.
Gilbert Deya is a controversial individual who has been accused of making fraudulent claims about his ability to help women who are unable to conceive. Furthermore, he has also been accused of leading a cult.
The acquittal of Deya has prompted questions about the regulation of churches in Kenya. Kenya is predominantly a Christian nation, with around 4,000 churches. However, some of these churches are managed by self-proclaimed pastors who do not have any theological training.
The recovery of the remains of worshippers linked to a sect that practiced fasting to “meet Jesus Christ” in April has sparked concerns about the need for stricter church regulation. The authorities have found almost 400 bodies in the Shakahola forest on the Kenyan coast. Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, the sect’s leader and self-proclaimed pastor, who is a 50-year-old former taxi driver, is currently facing terrorism charges.
