Controversial self-styled preacher Gilbert Deya who claimed he could help infertile couples conceive “miracle babies” through prayer, is dead following an accident in Kisumu.
Deya died following a road accident involving his car and a trailer along Bondo-Kisumu Road on Tuesday evening.
His salon car was badly damaged in the accident.
Deya was among the victims of the tragic accident that occurred at Namba Kapiyo, along the Kisumu-Bondo road near Holo.
According to police, a bus belonging to Moi University and a Toyota Fortuner belonging to the Siaya County Government were travelling from Bondo towards Kisian, while the televangelist’s Toyota Noah was heading in the opposite direction.
Nyanza Regional Traffic Enforcement Officer Peter Maina said the driver of the Toyota Noah lost control of the vehicle and hit the oncoming bus.
“While trying to avoid a head-on collision with other vehicles, the bus veered off the road and landed on its side,” said Maina.
Following the accident, at least 15 Moi University students, who were on an educational tour in Bondo, sustained serious injuries and were referred to the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Reterral Hospital in Kisumu for specialised treatment.
Thirteen others escaped with minor injuries and were taken to the Kombewa Sub-County Hospital in Seme.
Deya’s vehicle collided head-on with the Fortuner.
His wife said he died in the accident.
Maina said that the occupants of the Siaya County Government vehicle escaped unhurt. Pastor Deya’s body was taken to Kombewa Hospital Mortuary.
Deya, a former stonemason who moved to London from Kenya in the mid-90s, was accused of stealing five children between 1999 and 2004 to buttress his claims.
He was sent back to Kenya to face charges of stealing children. He was acquitted of the charges in July 2023 for lack of evidence.
Senior Principal Magistrate Robison Ondieki found the 89-year-old not guilty, ruling that the prosecution had not produced enough evidence to link Deya to the charges.
The preacher, whose Gilbert Deya Ministries had churches in London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool and Manchester, was extradited from Britain to Kenya in 2017 following a decade-long legal battle to remain in the UK.
Deya and his wife Mary claimed their prayers could see infertile and post-menopausal women become pregnant in four months, and without intercourse.
However prosecutors said the “miracle babies” were stolen, mainly from Nairobi’s poor neighbourhoods.
Deya’s claims first came to light in a 2004 case, when a British coroner found that a baby called Sarah, who had died aged three weeks, was not related to either of her supposed parents.
The mother had been told she was infertile, and travelled to Nairobi where she claimed to have given birth, but DNA tests proved otherwise.
In 2015, Deya’s now ex-wife, Mary, abandoned her appeal against a four-year jail sentence and elected to serve the entire prison term.
Deya claims he was ordained as an archbishop by the United Evangelical Churches of America in 1992. He was a popular televangelist in Kenya before moving to Britain.
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