Televangelist Gilbert Deya has been released on Sh10 million bond.
This was after numerous pleas by his legal team.
Justice Luka Kimaru on Tuesday granted the ‘miracle babies’ preacher but warned him about absconding court hearings.
“The suspect needs to be given stringent terms so that he does not abscond as he has a history of absconding and maligning the courts”, Justice Kimaru said according to the Standard.
Judge Kimaru also noted that Deya was in contempt following his remarks while still in the UK stating that Kenyan courts are “Kangaroo Courts”.
The preacher’s lawyer John Swaka told the court that his client has been sickly yet he has been in remand since his extradition.
Swaka urged the court to consider his plea because he has been appealing to the court since last year to release is client on bond.
“I pray that the court would be lenient to the preacher as he has suffered a lot in remand and cannot abscond as he has a fixed abode”, Swaka said in his submission.
In January, Justice Kimaru declined to release Deya on bond pending the determination of his trial. He gave the prosecution team 90 days to conclude investigations into the trial.
At the time, he termed Deya a flight risk and remanded him at Kamiti Maximum Prison.
Before the order in January, Milimanbi Chief Magistrate Nairobi Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi had released the bishop on Sh1 million bond and two sureties.
However, the DPP filed an application citing that the magistrate’s order to release Deya was unlawful and improper.
“The trial magistrate exercised his discretion wrongly, illegally, and improper in granting bond and issuing the orders to have Deya released,” said the prosecution.
Deya has been charged with stealing five children who were found in his home in Mountain View Estate, Nairobi.