Church disowns pastor accused of torturing minors for stealing Sh80 cake

The minors are nursing serious burn injuries. [iStock]

Deliverance church leaders in Baringo County have disowned a pastor alleged to have tortured three children in Kaptimbor trading centre for stealing cakes worth Sh80.

Speaking to The Standard, Deliverance’s North Rift Regional Overseer Isaac Mutai said Joseph Mduma is not a pastor but a former pianist who was kicked out of the church in 2021 over indiscipline. 

Mutai said the doctrine of the church was not aligned with the behaviours portrayed by Mduma and went on to call out the suspect for taking the law into his own hands.

“We ordain ministers and the man does not pastor in any of the churches within the ministry," said Mutai.

Mduma is currently in police custody and expected to take a plea on May 31 after police on Thursday sought orders to hold him and his accomplice, Daniel Koros, to enable them to conclude investigations into the incident.

Mduma is alleged to have stripped and forced the three - two Form Two students and a Standard Eight pupil - to stand on a burning oven to extract a confession.

Koros and Mduma were arrested on May 25, 2022, after neighbours responded to the children’s cry for help.