The Kilifi court has given police until Monday to detain 11 suspects in relation to the deaths of two children who allegedly died due to religious teachings.
Chief Magistrate of Kilifi Justus Kituku on Thursday decided the 11 who include the parents of the deceased should continue to be detained by the police until Monday when the police are expected to issue their report.
Kituku said that although it is right according to Article 49 of the constitution for the accused to be given bond, some circumstances may cause the court to deny them bail.
“Things such as the complexity of the matter under investigation, the scope of the investigation, the seriousness of the offense under investigation, the relationship between the arrested persons and the victims, and those who are expected to be witnesses. In this case, there are allegations of extremist teachings that led to the deaths of children, and as we have learned from Shakahola case, this investigation can be broad,” read part of the decision.
The police believe that the children aged 11 and 13 died after their parents failed to take them to the hospital due to the faith of their church.
They are members of the True Word Church of God that believes in divine healing. The members of that church do not believe in going to the hospital but only pray when someone is ill.
Kilifi North Sub County Police Commander Kenneth Maina said one of the children died on Saturday at their home. The second died on Sunday at the home of a member of the church.
“We got information from the public on Sunday about the suspected death of a minor and people were planning to cover up the death,” the police said.
”We managed to reach the place where they were gathered but the children had been chased away. The child’s body had also been removed.
We arrested others and went to the parent’s compound where we arrested others. Until then, the parents had not known about the death of the second child,” he said.
Maina said that the religion does not have a physical building where they perform their worship but every Sunday they gather in the compound of any member who offers to welcome them.
“It is a challenge to follow them because they don’t have a church. Every time their service is done in a different area which may even be a different city.”
The police asked to detain the suspects so that an autopsy could be done.
