A pastor who brainwashed four minors and then defiled them during night prayers has been jailed for 50 years by a Mombasa court.
Sammy Maingi Charo alias Pastor Aaron Kalama sexually assaulted the minors and impregnated one of them during what he called prayer sessions in his house and that of his followers.
Charo committed the offences on diverse dates between October 2019 and September 2020 at Kinarani village in Kilifi County.
When he first appeared in court, Pastor Charo denied committing the offences and claimed he had been framed.
To prove its case, the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji called 10 witnesses.
The evidence of the first victim was that she had gone to the pastor for spiritual intervention in Kwa Micah’s area.
This was not the first time she was seeking spiritual intervention as she had done this on numerous occasions when she would be prayed for and return home.
“After several sessions of prayers, we started spending the nights at the follower’s house. The prayers would be conducted in the sitting room but they would be called one by one to a separate room for prayers,” she told Kaloleni Senior Resident Magistrate Ritah Amwayi.
She further narrated that on one of the nights during their usual prayers, Pastor Charo called her inside a separate room.
“The pastor told me that he wanted to get intimate with me so that God’s grace may come upon me,” the minor recalled.
Being naïve, she accepted the offer for the “grace of God”.
“He would warn me against telling anyone about it,” she said, adding that the man brainwashed her into believing that the “grace of God” would be upon her whenever she gets intimate with him.
But one night as they were sleeping, the minor said police officers stormed the followers’ house and arrested all the occupants.
The second victim’s story is similar to the first one, other than the fact that she had been told by her mother to join other girls for “prayers” at the pastor’s house.
She stated that a lot of people were attending the prayers but then the pastor would separate the “sheep” and the “goats” at the end of the prayer.
“He would ask the girls to remain behind for “more” prayers at night. We would then be called for separate “prayers” and get defiled,” the 15-year-old said.
The minor told the court that the accused approached her for the first time saying he had been sent by God to defile her.
“I believed him. He would play loud music whenever I was with him in his room so that those in the sitting room would not notice anything,” she said.
Court records showed that as the minors remained silent about the violation, the trend continued as the man of the cloth promised more of God’s grace to them.
The minors testified that it was difficult for them to open up about the sexual assault they were undergoing because of fearing the pastor, who was allegedly receiving instructions from God.
When cross-examined by Charo, the minor clarified that she was not ill at the time but was only going for prayers.
For the third victim, she explained that ill health pushed her to seek spiritual intervention from the accused.
She said that initially, they would go for prayers during the day and return to their homes at daybreak.
“But after a while, the pastor told our parents that we would be sleeping at Alex’s house for overnight prayers,” she narrated, adding that one night, the accused told her that if she got intimate with him, she would get to see the light in God’s kingdom.
The fourth victim’s case exposed the man of the cloth’s conduct after she got pregnant after attending the overnight prayers together with the other girls.
She identified the pastor as the one responsible for the pregnancy leading to the rescue of the other three girls.
Court records showed Charo started the healing ministry after he was allegedly prayed for and got healed in 2018.
Government analyst Mr Mwidani Omar, who conducted a DNA test on the fourth victim’s child to confirm its paternity, testified that the results showed there was a 99.99 per cent chance that the accused is the biological father of the baby.
The matter was investigated by Mr Elvis Otieno whose evidence was corroborated by the medical tests and the testimonies of the minors and their mothers.
In his defence, Charo denied knowing the minors stating that the complainants had a feud with the family of his wife and implicated him.
“I did not know what led to the feud resulting in this court case,” he said, adding that he was charged using names that are not his.
He also said they had a land dispute but did not clarify with whom and failed to produce witnesses to confirm the allegations of the land dispute.
The magistrate said in her ruling that the state had proved both offences beyond a reasonable doubt.
She said the accused was positively identified by the victims as the one who sexually assaulted them.
"The positive DNA match between the accused and the complainant's child is sufficient evidence that he is the assailant in the offence as it linked him to the offence with which he is charged," said the magistrate.
In his mitigation, the accused asked for leniency, saying he had children and parents who depend on him.
"I pray for forgiveness, my children are young and need parental guidance," he said.
However, the magistrate handed him the sentence for each count for each victim.
"In respect of counts I and IV, the accused person is sentenced to serve 10 years imprisonment in each. In counts II and III, he is to serve 15 years imprisonment each. The sentences run consecutively, " said the magistrate.
This sentence means that he will serve 15 years for each of the two minors aged 15 and 10 years for the other two aged 17 years.
