A 25-year-old woman whose parents claim has been confined illegally by a Catholic Church Movement, Opus Dei, has denied being held against her will. Sophie Naliaka told high court judge Daniel Musinga she freely made a decision to join the movement when she was 22.
She accused her parents of detaining her without her consent and dragging her to Mathari Mental Hospital where she was confined and treated as an insane person to remove her from the church.
Her parents filed an urgent case last week seeking the court's intervention on grounds that their daughter had been forcefully confined by Opus Dei. Dr Charles Ngome and his wife Hellen Kibanani alleged that their daughter was lured from their home and taken to Nairobi to serve the Opus Dei as a numerary living in one of its residences.
They claimed Naliaka has been suffering from a mental disorder caused by her recruitment to the church movement. However, Naliaka yesterday told the judge she has not been coerced to be a member of the movement. She said she made a decision not to get married and dedicate her life to serve God and her parents should accept her choices. She said the attempt by her parents to forcibly remove her from Opus Dei is tantamount to infringing her rights to freedom of association.
She said the act of confining her at the hospital constituted to grave criminal negligence and an abuse of the medical profession and her rights. Numeraries are celibate members of Opus Dei who live in special centres. Both men and women may become numeraries, although the centres are strictly gender-segregated. Numeraries generally have careers and devote the bulk of their income to the organisation.
Naliaka told court she scored straight ‘A’ in her KCSE and was among top students in the marketing Option Bachelor of commerce class graduating with a second class honors, upper class.
The parents wanted the court to restrain Maria Consolata Osienju, Otero Espanola alias Maria and Irene Ngunjiri alia Renee who allegedly recruited her and any other servants of Opus Dei from removing her out of Kenya. But justice Musinga declined to issue orders saying he will give a comprehensive ruling next week..
