The wife of controversial televangelist Gilbert Deya has been acquitted of stealing five children.
Mrs Mary Juma Deya had faced 10 charges of stealing five children and forging their birth registrations between May 2002 and August 2004 in Nairobi and Teso District.
Her husband, Bishop Deya, who is currently embroiled in extradition proceedings in the UK, is also wanted in Kenya to face similar charges of child theft and abduction.
Nairobi senior resident magistrate Dickson Onyango ruled that there was no sufficient evidence to prove that Mrs Deya stole the five children.
He also ruled that no witness was called from Teso District civil registration offices to testify that a child was stolen and registered at their offices.
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Mr Onyango said the accused was under no obligation to prove innocence and that there was absolutely no evidence to show that the children were stolen and the people who took blood samples for DNA tests were not called to testify.
“Although the alleged blood sample of Gilbert Deya was taken and examined, the record does not show who took such samples,” said the magistrate.
The magistrate ruled that there was no basis to doubt that the registration documents were not genuine.
“It is incredible how the accused, who was supposed to be a mere patient, could go to various clinics and get such crucial official documents without the collusion of others,” said Mr Onyango.
The magistrate, however, declined a request by Mrs Deya to release the children to her saying that they were at a children’s home and only a children’s court could authorise their release.
Mrs Deya was jailed by a Kibera court in January for three years for abducting a three-year-old child but is out on bail.
She had previously served a two-year jail term on similar charge.
The family of Bishop Deya came to the limelight in 2004 after claiming that he could help barren women have “miracle babies”.
It was alleged that infertile or post-menopausal women who attended his church in Peckham, South London, delivered miracle babies.
Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Deya+wife+didnt+steal+5+children+rules+magistrate+/-/1056/1293642/-/128xg2o/-/