I’m sorry, says convicted Deya’s wife

The wife of self-proclaimed miracle worker Gilbert Deya on Friday pleaded for forgiveness as she started a three-year jail term for stealing a baby boy.

Mrs Mary Deya was sentenced to serve two more years each on two counts of giving false information. Sentences will run concurrently meaning the maximum period she can spend in jail is three years.

It will be the second time Mrs Deya will be serving time in jail.

Kibera senior principal magistrate Grace Nzioka said she was satisfied that the wife of bishop Deya stole the child and gave false information that she had given birth.

And the prosecutor, chief inspector Francis Ndiema, told the court that the accused had one conviction in which she was jailed for two years for similar offence.

The accused admitted that she served the jail term at Lang’ata Women Prisons.

In mitigation, the accused through a lawyer pleaded for leniency, saying, she had suffered psychologically due to the case.

She said she was remorseful for the offence committed.

The court heard that Mrs Deya stole the baby from Kenyatta National Hospital on September 10, 2005. She alleged she gave birth to the baby miraculously.

In her judgment, the magistrate said: “I am satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to sentence the accused to three years in jail for stealing the baby and additional two years each on two counts of giving false information."

Mrs Nzioka said that she did not agree with the defence submission.

“Mary Deya is excluded as a biological mother of the Baby A and the owner the placenta. Her uterus was not active and therefore was in her menopause,” the magistrate said.

The magistrate added that the accused did not deliver the child. She said she was satisfied with the evidence of three doctors.

The magistrate did not agree with defence lawyer Mr Elisha Ongoya that a child, which the wife of UK-based evangelist is said to have given birth to, was exchanged between Nairobi and Kenyatta National hospitals.