Win for Pastor Ezekiel as court declines police request for 30-day detention

In an early win for Pastor Ezekiel Odero, a court in Shanzu, Mombasa County, has allowed the police to detain the televangelist for 7 days while declining the prosecution's request to hold him for 30. 

Police will now continue holding him at Port Police Station in Mombasa and are expected to produce him in court again on Thursday this week. 

The court also backdated his detention to begin on April 27 when he was arrested. 

Pastor Ezekiel, who is being represented by a legal team including Cliff Ombeta and Danstan Omari, had filed an affidavit seeking to stop the Shanzu court from delivering a ruling on a police application to detain him for 30 days.

He had sought a re-hearing of the police application on grounds that he will suffer miscarriage of justice should the court deliver the ruling.

"There is a pressing need of arresting the delivery of the ruling set for today so that the court can equally consider the written affidavit of the respondent in response to the numerous accusations against him as a person and the ministry he leads," his lawyers Ombeta and Omari said today.

According to the lawyers, the police affidavit filed by George Muriuki was brought in “bad faith” and is “an evil attempt to unlawfully seek the limitation of Pastor Ezekiel's right to liberty without justification”.

They also argued that the state allegations are “a wicked attempt to scandalise Pastor Ezekiel's name by creating a connection between him and Kilifi cult leader Paul Mackenzie due to a previous commercial transaction that failed”.

"Unless this court arrests the delivery of its ruling on whether or not there is a reason to detain Pastor Ezekiel for 30 days, and consider his written affidavit in rebuttal of falsehoods contained in the police affidavit, there will be a miscarriage of justice as the court will not be properly equipped to render a just and well-informed determination," said the advocates.