Cops hunt down pastor accused of sexually abusing teenage girls
Detectives in Mwingi are hunting down a suspected preacher believed to have sexually molested nearly 20 girls, impregnating some of them, and gone into hiding.
Even as security officers pursue the preacher, some residents expressed their reservations with the cleric who lured their daughters into sex in the “name of bringing them closer to God”.
More than 10 girls were last week arrested alongside the preacher’s wife, in rental houses where the pastor is alleged to have held them hostage.
The preacher, whose identity has not been revealed, administers Mountain of Healing and Deliverance Church at Kwambungu area in the outskirts of Mwingi town.
The suspect is alleged to have been intoxicating the teenage girls with unknown substances and detaining some who are said not to have been going back home after attending church.
Their plight came to limelight when parents, whose daughter had scored 304 marks in last year’s KCPE exam, prevailed the preacher to hand her back after she failed to return home after attending the church.
Irate villagers confronted the preacher after reports emerged he was preying on the minors.
“Many girls who attend the church are said to have dropped out of school and others gave birth at tender ages following alleged defilement by the preacher,” said furious Mutisya Maluki, a parent.
Maluki told of how his niece had been alleged impregnated by the pastor and the case went unresolved even after being reported at Mwingi Police Station.
“When my niece started attending the church she became pregnant but no action was taken even after reporting to the matter to the authorities,” he said.
