Court orders Deya arrested to face child theft charges

A Nairobi court has ordered London-based archbishop Gilbert Deya arrested to answer child theft charges.

Mr Deya, accused of stealing five children, has been charged in his absence.

The prosecution applied for the arrest order in a city magistrate’s court after registering the charges.

Mr Deya allegedly stole the children and took them to his Mountain View estate home in Nairobi between 1999 and last year.

His case will come up for mention on November 11.

The prosecution says it has lined up at least nine witnesses, including five police officers, to testify.

Lawyer Cliff Ombeta, acting for the Deya family, said he would ask the court to order police to release or charge the archbishop’s wife, Mrs Mary Deya.

Mrs Deya, 57, is detained at the city’s Parklands police station. She was arrested on Saturday, soon after claiming to have given birth miraculously on her way to hospital.

Police were called after doctors who examined her found no evidence that she had just given birth. They said a newborn baby boy she arrived with at Kenyatta National Hospital could not be hers.

On Sunday, Mr Ombeta said police had told him that Mrs Deya and the baby would undergo DNA tests to prove if she is the mother. He promised to order similar independent tests.

Mr Ombeta, who visited Mrs Deya in custody, said police had not indicated the charges they would prefer against her.

Mr Deya, who left Kenya for Britain several years ago, has caused controversy with claims that he can pray for women to give birth miraculously.

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