Kenyan preacher Gilbert Deya cleared over “miracle babies” child theft claims
A Kenyan court has dropped all charges against Gilbert Deya, the controversial preacher famed for promising infertile couples miracle babies through prayer. Judges ruled prosecutors failed to prove he stole children to back up his divine claims.
“Miracle baby” preacher walks free after evidence fails to stick
Deya, 86, once a stonemason before turning to faith healing, faced accusations of kidnapping five children between 1999 and 2004. But Senior Principal Magistrate Robison Ondieki found the evidence thin.
Deya, who fled Kenya for London in the 1990s and ran Gilbert Deya Ministries with UK churches, was extradited back to face charges in 2017 after trying to avoid Kenyan justice. Alongside his wife Mary, he claimed prayer could help infertile and even post-menopausal women conceive within four months—no sex needed.
Prosecutors allege babies snatched from Nairobi’s poor
Authorities insisted Deya’s so-called “miracle babies” were actually stolen, mainly from Nairobi’s slums. But Deya’s lawyer, John Swaka, branded the claims “baseless” and legally unsound.
“He is delighted and very happy. He has no squabbles with anyone and will go back to serving the Lord,” Swaka told AFP.
Dark past and rising concerns over cult-like churches in Kenya
Deya’s saga ignited in 2004 after a British coroner revealed a baby named Sarah, who died at three weeks old, was not related to her “parents.” The mother was told she was infertile but claimed she gave birth in Nairobi—a claim DNA tests debunked.
This case spotlighted Kenya’s booming but largely unregulated religious scene, where countless self-proclaimed pastors run churches with no formal theological training.
The drama comes amid even darker headlines: authorities recently discovered nearly 400 bodies in Kenya’s Shakahola forest linked to a cult practising starvation rituals to “meet Jesus.” Its leader, Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, is now in custody, sparking calls for tighter regulation of faith groups.
