NANDI COUNTY: The Kapsabet Law Court has ordered a top Nandi cleric to undergo a DNA test to determine the paternity of a three-month-old baby he is alleged to have fathered after committing defilement.
The court ordered Rev John Kitur, the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya secretary general, to undergo the test.
Eighteen-year-old Gladys Cheptoo from Kibugat village in Tinderet sub-county, who was a minor at the time, accused the reverend of defiling her on two occasions in January after which she claimed she got pregnant.
Kapsabet Principal Magistrate Beatrice Mosiria ordered the test after the cleric denied defiling and impregnating Ms Cheptoo.
Cheptoo told the court she bore a child in September following the alleged ordeal by the cleric whom she said was her guardian at the time.
WIFE'S ABSENCE
"I come from a poor family. The reverend's wife asked my parents to allow me to live with them in their home," she said.
She said the reverend took advantage of his wife's absence in January to defile her.
"His wife works as a shopkeeper in the local market centre. The reverend defiled me twice while his wife was working in the shop. The first incident was on January 10 while the second incident happened in February 14. I later discovered that I had conceived," Cheptoo told the court.
Lawyer Obondo Okoko, who represented the cleric, however, denied the charges and said his client would not oppose the DNA test claiming Kitur was innocent.
Later, the reverend together with the child in question presented themselves at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital for the DNA test.
