Bishop Joe Agutu, who had appeared before Kisumu Resident Magistrate Pauline Mbulika in Kisumu Law Courts on charges of defilement, has been sentenced to 75 years in prison.
The sentence was made after he was found guilty of three counts of defiling minors despite him pleading innocent throughout the case against him.
The clergyman was also accused of intentionally infecting one of the minors with HIV.
Agutu is said to have defiled the minors, aged between 14 and 15, between April and July 2016.
In addition, he was also accused of an alternative charge of touching the private parts of the minors.
The minors narrated their horrific encounters with Bishop Ogutu, with four other witnesses appearing to testify against him.
One of them, a total orphan, recounted to the court how the bishop lured her and her grandmother in the pretense of sponsoring her education.
“My grandmother brought me to him and he promised to sponsor my education. My grandmother went back home and left me with him at the church,” she narrated.
She also narrated how the bishop, after defiling her, called the other girl and made her watch as he defiled her too.
The victims also reported that the Bishop tortured them for three days before they managed to escape and report the matter to the police.
