From the pulpit to the dock: When men of God become the devil's advocate

In the ordinary life of a Christian, a pastor is one of the most revered people and a spiritual leader to turn to in times of distress. However, a worrying trend is emerging where the men of the cloth are becoming wolves in sheep's skin, devouring their congregants and stealing and defrauding others in the name of God. Their deeds are a fulfillment of Jesus' teaching about the clergy who preach water but drink wine as they have left the spirit of God in the pulpit and turned to the spirit of lust, which has often landed them in court. From murder, rape, and defilement to stealing, some pastors have traded their places at the pulpit for a place in the court corridors where they rub shoulders and sleep in the same cells with the miscreants they are supposed to serve. With the rising cases of crimes being committed by the clergy, the government formed a task force to review the conduct of churches and their pastors with the report yet to be released. Defilement and rape When parents entrust their children with the pastors, the least worry in their minds is that they can be turned into prey for sex escapades. However, the pastors are turning out to be among the untrustworthy and deadly beasts of prey who take advantage of trust to defile and rape minors and women who expect their guidance on good morals. On Tuesday, Pastor Samuel Ngumbao was sentenced to 38 years in prison by a court in Kwale for defiling two primary school girls aged 14 and 16 who had visited him at his church. Ngumbaro was punished by two magistrates, the first being Mariakani Resident Magistrate Olivia Koranje who sentenced him to 30 years in jail for defiling the 14-year-old girl, while Principal Magistrate Nelly Adalo sentenced him to eight years for defiling the 16-year-old. Both minors described how the pastor lured them to his house before defiling them. They had initially met him during one of his public sermons before he took them to his house and took turns defiling them. The decision came barely a month after Pastor James Njuguna of First Born of the Holy Spirit Church in Kajiado was sentenced to 50 years in jail for defiling two boys and two girls while claiming that his fluid entering them was the blood of Jesus entering and cleansing them. According to court records, Njuguna repeatedly defiled the two girls and committed indecent acts with the two boys until one of the girls got pregnant leading to his arrest and prosecution. Njuguna denied the first DNA results that confirmed him 99.9 per cent to be the father of the infant and the second one returned the same results. Nairobi Magistrate Caroline Njagi found him guilty of defiling the teens and handed him the harsh sentence which will keep him behind bars for almost the rest of his life. "He was of sound mind when he repeatedly defiled the complainants together with other children while using religious connotations and manipulations to perpetrate these offenses against the minors. As such, the court finds him guilty as charged and convict him accordingly," she ruled. The first victim was a 14-year-old boy who told the court that during the school holiday, Njuguna invited him alongside other two boys to his house where they took a shower, ate dinner, and slept in one of the bedrooms where he committed the acts after blindfolding them. One of the girls testified that she had gone to Njuguna's church and remained after the service for a dance practice when the pastor took her to another dark room and raped her while claiming that he was anointing the girls with holy spirit oil. Murder The chilling discoveries of more than 400 dead bodies at the Shakahola Forest allegedly brainwashed to starve to death by Pastor Paul Makenzi of Good News International Church left people wondering why a man of God would mislead his congregants to death. Makenzi, who has been in custody for the last five months, is likely to face multiple charges of murder once investigations are complete. But he is not alone. Catholic faithful in Isiolo Diocese will never forget the brutal murder of Bishop Luigi Locatti by a priest, Father Guyo Waqo, whose lust to control church funds couldn't allow him to see the bishop at the helm. Father Guyo, alongside his four accomplices Mohamed Molu, Aden Ibrahim Mohamed, Mahati Ali Halake and Roba Balla Bariche are serving death sentences after being found guilty of killing the bishop. It was revealed that Father Guyo recruited and paid the four to kill Bishop Locatti over a disagreement in soliciting donor funds. The court case revealed that there was bad blood between the priest and the Bishop after he was warned to stop soliciting donor funds. A video recording played in court showed one of the convicts confessing how the killing of Bishop Locatti was planned and executed. The convict was recorded telling the police that a certain Catholic Priest (Father Guyo) approached him to participate in the murder and was introduced to five other people and together with the priest hatched the plot to kill Bishop Locatti at his residence. In Kisii County, Pastor Joel Mogaka of the Seventh Day Adventist Church was accused of killing his wife Irene Nyakwara in January 2021 and lying to detectives that the wife had died by suicide. Stealing and fraud In May, Pastor Wealth Ochelle of Cogic International Church of God was charged before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina with conspiracy to defraud Stanbic Bank Limited of Sh28,779,600. The Nigerian pastor, who is based in Shanzu within Mombasa County, faced other charges of handling stolen money where it was alleged that he dishonestly received Sh340,000 having reason to believe it to be stolen or unlawfully obtained. He denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh500,000 with the case pending hearing and determination. Pastor Peter Mwangi of Pentecostal Church also faced charges of stealing before Nairobi Principal Magistrate Esther Kimilu in which he was accused of stealing Sh420,000 from Stanbic Bank. Mwangi faced six counts of forging a national identity card, uttering a forged document to a banker, stealing from a bank, and attempted stealing. It was alleged that the city-based pastor impersonated the complainant John Karugu Macharia, from whose account the money was allegedly stolen between December 21 and December 24 last year. According to the prosecution, Mwangi withdrew Sh420,000 on December 21, 2022, from the bank's Buruburu branch after impersonating the complainant and returned to the bank again on December 24 for another withdrawal of Sh435,000 which failed. Pastor Catherine Wairimu of Arise and Shine Healing and Deliverance Church in Githurai was not left behind as well after allegedly swindling Sh4 million from members of the public on the false pretense that she would sell them land and market stalls in the Mowlem area within Nairobi. Wairimu was charged with two counts of obtaining money by false pretense and conspiracy to defraud. Other crimes Bishop Gilbert Deya of the 'miracle babies' saga is another man of God who spent more than six years fighting child trafficking and child theft cases. Deya was charged in August 2017 with five counts of child stealing where it was alleged that he stole the children at their Mountain View Estate home between 2002 and 2004 before fleeing to London. Although the controversial preacher was lucky to survive, his wife Mary seems to have carried the bullet of the family sins when she was jailed for two years in 2004 over the same offenses and again in 2009 for another offense of abducting a three-year-old boy. Pastor James Ng'ang'a of Neno Evangelism is not new to controversy and has been a guest at the corridors of justice in many instances. In one of the cases, Pastor Ng'ang'a was charged with defrauding a member of his church Wilson Njoroge Mwathe Sh3.6 million using false pretense that he was in a position to offer him a house for rent in Karen Estate. The televangelist however struck an out-of-court settlement with the complainant who forgave him on account that he did not want to continue the fight with his 'spiritual father'.

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