A couple who have lost six children after allegedly refusing them medical treatment because of their religious beliefs were on Thursday convicted of child neglect.
Derrick Kimani and Wamwere Gitau said they can only pray for their children to heal.
The members of Kavonokia sect were found to have a case to answer for neglecting their 13-month-old son.
In their defence before Embu chief magistrate Maxwell Gicheru, the couple said they had not neglected their son as they were praying for him with the assistance of church elders and other believers.
They said they were "sure he would get well through the power of God".
They have been charged that on diverse dates between June 17 and September 28 last year at Mukuuri village in Embu West subcounty, they willfully neglected their son the right to health and medical attention by failing to take him for immunisation and treatment.
Gitau said they had lost six children not because of neglecting them but because of the will of God.
Gitau quoted the Bible in James 5:14 which reads: "Are any among you sick? They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord."
However, Gicheru told the couple that children must have an education and healthcare as provided for in the Constitution.
A sister to the husband Jane Kawira said she was called by a relative on September 14 last year and informed that the boy was sick and that the couple had refused to take him to hospital.
She said she rushed to the home and demanded that the couple take the child to hospital but they refused, prompting her to take him by force to Embu Level 5 Teaching and Referral Hospital where he was admitted.
The witness said since the baby was so young she was admitted together with him. After treatment and discharge, she said, the parents refused to take him, saying he was unholy.
Kawira said she reported the matter to Itabua police station and the couple was arrested.
Gicheru will deliver judgement on June 13.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
