A Nairobi-based pastor was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of raping a mentally-ill girl and attempting a similar act on her mother.
Pastor Patrick Alikula of Holy Canaan Church in Kangemi was accused of tricking the victims in the name of praying for them to exorcise demons.
According to the prosecution, Alikula had been invited to the ill girl's home in Kabete for a prayer session after he promised to help cure her.
While there, Alikula sent the victim's mother to get 'anointing oil' at a nearby shop before he went ahead to defile the girl.
Upon returning, the woman found Pastor Alikula in the middle of the act. He, however, explained that he resulted to raping the girl to cleanse her.
He further told the mother she also had to sleep with him to complete the cleansing exercise and went ahead to touch her inappropriately. It is at this point that she raised an alarm alerting the neighbours.
After the incident, which happened in 2011, the pastor is said to have escaped to Uganda after an angry mob threatened to lynch him, but was later arrested after returning to Kenya.
Appearing before Kikuyu Principal magistrate Daniel Musyoka, Alikula was hit with four charges of touching the mother's private parts, attempting to rape her, raping the mentally-ill girl and molesting a physically challenged victim.
On the first two offences, he was sentenced to 10 years for each offence. On the other two charges, the 'man of God' was jailed for life.
