{"id":98160,"date":"2023-07-17T17:37:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T17:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case"},"modified":"2023-07-17T17:53:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T17:53:24","slug":"kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case","title":{"rendered":"Kenyan court acquits ‘miracle baby’ pastor in trafficking case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as “miracle babies”, the result of his prayers, was acquitted on Monday by a Nairobi court due to insufficient evidence.<\/b><\/p>\n

Gilbert Deya, a former stonemason who moved to London in the 1990s, was accused of stealing five children between 1999 and 2004.<\/p>\n

But Gilbert Deya, 86, was acquitted by Robison Ondieki, a magistrate in a Nairobi court, who ruled that the prosecution had not produced sufficient evidence.<\/p>\n

“The charges were fabricated and could not be brought before a court,” the reverend’s lawyer, John Swaka, told AFP, assuring the press that his client was “very happy”.<\/p>\n

Gilbert Deya, who owns several churches, including in London, Liverpool and Nottingham, was extradited from Britain to Kenya in 2017 after a legal battle lasting almost 10 years.<\/p>\n

The reverend and his wife Mary claimed that infertile or menopausal women could become pregnant in four months, without having sexual relations, thanks to their prayers.<\/p>\n

According to the prosecution, the babies had in fact been stolen, most of them from the maternity ward of Pumwani Hospital in Nairobi, a poor suburb of the capital.<\/p>\n

A predominantly Christian country in East Africa, Kenya is home to around “4,000 churches”, according to official figures, including those run by self-proclaimed pastors with no theological training.<\/p>\n

The discovery in April of the bodies of worshippers linked to a sect that practised starvation in order to “meet Jesus Christ” raised questions about the need for greater regulation of churches.<\/p>\n

Nearly 400 bodies have so far been found in the Shakahola forest on the Kenyan coast. The sect’s leader and self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a 50-year-old former taxi driver, is facing terrorism charges.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as “miracle babies”, the result of his prayers, was acquitted on Monday by a Nairobi court due to insufficient evidence. Gilbert Deya, a former stonemason who moved to London in the 1990s, was accused of stealing five children between 1999 and 2004. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":98159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[6857,7003,8247,10586,1488,964,544,10585],"class_list":["post-98160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-africanews","tag-baby","tag-court","tag-crime","tag-kenya","tag-pastor"],"yoast_head":"\nKenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as "miracle babies", the result of his prayers, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as "miracle babies", the result of his prayers, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T17:37:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T17:53:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenyan court acquits ‘miracle baby’ pastor in trafficking case\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T17:37:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-17T17:53:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Africanews\",\"Baby\",\"court\",\"Crime\",\"Kenya\",\"Pastor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\",\"name\":\"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case - kenya\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T17:37:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-17T17:53:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as \\\"miracle babies\\\", the result of his prayers, ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":538,\"caption\":\"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kenyan court acquits ‘miracle baby’ pastor in trafficking case\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\",\"name\":\"kenya\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case - kenya","description":"A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as \"miracle babies\", the result of his prayers, ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case","og_description":"A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as \"miracle babies\", the result of his prayers, ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case","og_site_name":"kenya","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-07-17T17:37:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-17T17:53:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":538,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Kenyan court acquits ‘miracle baby’ pastor in trafficking case","datePublished":"2023-07-17T17:37:57+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-17T17:53:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case"},"wordCount":297,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Kenya","Africanews","Baby","court","Crime","Kenya","Pastor"],"articleSection":["all news","community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case","name":"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case - kenya","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-17T17:37:57+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-17T17:53:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A Kenyan evangelical pastor suspected of stealing children presented as \"miracle babies\", the result of his prayers, ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/07\/sm_1689600096.144125.jpg","width":1024,"height":538,"caption":"Kenyan court acquits 'miracle baby' pastor in trafficking case"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyan-court-acquits-miracle-baby-pastor-in-trafficking-case#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kenyan court acquits ‘miracle baby’ pastor in trafficking case"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/","name":"kenya","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}