In a lesson to lecherous pastors, a Kikuyu court has given a life sentence to a pastor who lied that he would pray for a mentally ill girl but raped her five years ago.
Patrick Alikula also attempted to rape the mother.
Principal magistrate Daniel Musyoka on Wednesday added two 10-year jail terms for touching the 10-year-old girl’s private parts and attempting to rape her mother.
Musyoka said the sentences will run concurrently, serving as a lesson to any cleric who exploits or plans to exploit anyone, especially vulnerable people.
“It’s better he be a lesson to any other person who claims such acts cleanse or change people’s conditions,” Musyoka said.
The crime was committed in Gikuni village, Kabete, on August 8, 2011.
The court heard that the Kangemi-based Holy Canaan Church cleric told the mother he would make a sacrifice and pray for her daughter until she heals.
The prosecution said the mother was sent to buy anointing oil, but as she ran to the shop, the accused raped the girl and waited naked for the mother to return. When she returned with the oil, he attempted to rape her.
The pastor then told the woman he had had sex with the daughter to cleanse her and had to have sex with her as well to seal the cleansing.
The double rape were supposed to help the girl heal mentally.
When the mother raised an alarm, he threatened her.
A mob arrested Alikula and threatened to set him ablaze before he was handed over to the police. The court rejected Alikula’s plea for mitigation, saying it took it five years to try him.
At one point he jumped bail and went into hiding in the Western region. Alikula pleaded that his church members were awaiting him and his wife and six children need him. But the court stood its ground.
The case is one of a number in which clerics have sexually exploited their trusting parishioners.
