Kenyans 'stole' kids
2004-08-30 14:12
Nairobi - Kenyan police said on Monday five Kenyans, who are already being investigated for child-trafficking, had been charged with stealing two children.
The five, who are due to appear in court on November 3 and 4, have denied the charges.
Mary Juma Deya, Mariam Nyeko and Rose Kiserem are accused of stealing a child from Nairobi's Pumwani Maternity Hospital in 2004.
Edda and Michael Odera were accused of stealing a child from Njoro township in Rift Valley province in 2000.
Police are investigating suspicions that a child-trafficking network is operating between Kenya and Britain.
Children without sex
The investigation centres on Deya's husband, United Kingdom-based Kenyan tele-evangelist Gilbert Deya, who alleges that through praying he can help women give birth in just four months, without engaging in sex.
DNA tests carried out on 11 children, who Edda Odera said she had produced through prayers, rather than copulation, showed that none of the children's DNA matched Odera's, according to officials.
The results of DNA tests on nine other children, to whom Deya says she gave birth, have yet to be released.
Twenty children, aged between three months and 14 years, are currently in the custody of the government's children department.
The deputy director of Kenya's Criminal Investigations Department, John Maina, has said Kenyan investigators are working with British police in the child-smuggling probe.