He started a church near Mwingi town and initiated a unique programme - to bring girls below 18 closer to God.
Today, the pastor (name withheld) is a wanted man. The police want him for allegedly defiling 20 girls and impregnating several of them.
Yesterday, Mwingi Central sub-county police commander Peter Mutuma said the hunt for the man of the cloth is on.
“Members of the public have reportedly seen him in different parts of Mwingi town but he disappears, making it hard to trace him,” Mutuma said.
Every time members of the public call the police after seeing him, he disappears before the law-enforcers arrive, the police boss said.
According to the police, "man of God" held the girls hostage in his church, which is a few kilometres from Mwingi town.
The preacher rented several houses near the church to keep some of the girls, the police say. It is in such houses that he turned the girls into sex slaves.
The girls have since been released to their parents.
“The girls who were found in various rental houses in Mwingi town have been released to their parents and efforts to arrest the suspect are on top gear,” Mutuma said.
He urged parents to be cautious and always to know the whereabouts of their children especially during this long holiday. They should not entrust their young girls to adults they are unfamiliar with as they could be sex predators.
“I urge parents to be very keen with their children especially during this long holiday as a lot of dangers are out there,” the OCPD cautioned.
Residents say the preacher uses a superstitious substance to win the hearts of the girls. Once the girls attend some church sessions, they refuse to go back to their homes, preferring to listen to "the word of God and get closer to the maker of heaven and earth".
The preaching would still be on had one of the parents not demanded to have her child back with the good news that she had scored 304 marks in this year's KCPE.
Her demand and insistence prompted other parents (some who all along knew what was happening but chose to remain silent lest they offend the man of God) to start telling it all to other residents.
They became courageous and revealed that their daughters were with the preacher and that they had refused to return home.
Some girls had dropped out of school after becoming pregnant. Some have given birth.
A resident who chose to be anonymous disclosed that his niece was impregnated by the pastor.
“When my niece started attending the church she became pregnant but no action was taken even after reporting to the authorities,” he said.
Mwingi town businessman Bernard Munyasya was shocked after he learnt that the preacher was cohabitating with a couple's daughter who had completed class eight.
“I had to rush and witness a pastor in my neighbourhood being accused of defiling minors in the name of spiritually connecting them to God,” Munyasya said.
He called on the police to arrest and prosecute the pastor for defiling the minors.
