Nairobi — Incarcerated televangelist Pastor Ezekiel Odero will be defended by lawyers Danstan Omari and Cliff Ombeta in a case bordering on terrorism charges.
Speaking at a press conference outside the Port Police Station where the pastor is being detained, the duo emphasized their client's innocence.
The two lawyers asserted that their client is in no way connected to the deaths in Shakahola where over 100 bodies have been exhumed in what police have linked to a cult duping people to starve to death.
"Only 15 people have died in the Church since it started more than a year ago. Our client is not linked to the deaths of persons in Shakahola," Ombeta revealed to journalists, with Omari backing him.
The first task for Ombetta and Omari will be to get Ezekiel released on May 2 and stop the prosecutor's request to keep him in jail for 30 days as detectives build a case.
Pastor Ezekiel was taken into custody by the police on Friday, April 28, after detectives looking into the Shakahola case found solid proof that some of the people who passed away at Pastor Ezekiel's church were buried on land owned by Kilifi cult pastor Paul Mackenzie.
"The respondent (Pastor Ezekiel) runs Times Television, which investigations have revealed he paid Ksh500,000 as part payment for its purchase from Mackenzie, who is currently under probe in matters connected to the Shakahola massacre of innocent and vulnerable Kenyans," State Counsels Jami Yamina.
"There is credible evidence linking the bodies exhumed from the 800 acres situated in Shakahola, associated with Mackenzie and his accomplices, with several innocent and vulnerable followers of his ministry believed to have met their death in their quest for divine intervention from Pastor Ezekiel, which intelligence has triggered police investigations."
Unreported deaths
Detectives in Kilifi arrested televangelist Ezekiel Odero of the New Life Prayer Centre and Church on Thursday in connection with unreported deaths at his church.
Coast Regional Commissioner Rhodah Onyancha told journalists Thursday that Pastor Odero was apprehended in Mavueni area on the allegations of the deaths that have been occurring at his premises and reported in various morgues and/or institutions.
Onyancha stated that the government has since shut down his prayer center.
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"We are urging and giving information to the public that that prayer has been closed down and whoever was in there has been cleared out," she said.
The arrest came following the preacher's interrogation by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives over the alleged indoctrination of his followers.
It comes at a time when the country is reeling from the shock of the discovery of bodies at Kilifi's Shakahola forest.
On Wednesday the number of victims linked to a suspected starvation cult led by Mackenzie soared past 100 as weeping relatives anxiously awaited news of loved ones after investigators unearthed mass graves last week.
The discovery of dozens of bodies buried in Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi shocked Kenyans, with Mackenzie accused of driving his followers to death by preaching that starvation was the only path to God.
