Father John Pesa, the cleric who made headlines a few weeks ago after mistakenly claiming that King Solomon killed Goliath using a stone and sling, is in trouble following a latest court ruling.
The High Court in Kisumu has ordered Father Pesa to compensate a sick boy who was allegedly tortured at while and confinement at Father Pesa’s Holy Ghost Coptic Church of Africa headquarters in Mamboleo, Kisumu.
According to a report by The Standard, the court ordered the cleric to pay Ksh 500,000 for denying the boy suffering from an acute psychotic disorder his freedom as he was preparing to sit for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2017.
Father Pesa together with his church are to pay the boy the cost he incurred in the case plus interest that is to be calculated at the court rate.
The boy is said to have been taken to Father Pesa in 2017 when the school noticed he had trouble concentrating on his studies and advised his parents to take him for medical treatment.
The cleric was to take the boy through spiritual healing.
However, that was not the case. Father Pesa is said to have chained the boy in his church, until May 2019 which was long after KCSE exams had been undertaken and therefore missed his studies and examination.
The boy’s parents found out when they visited him in the company of officers from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
According to reports, the boy is said to have been cuffed in heavy chains and when his parents demanded for his release, Father Pesa is said to have declined to do so, forcing them to seek legal redress in a battle that has seen them in the corridors of justice since 2018.
Father Pesa had however denied the claims, arguing that there is no medical evidence to prove that the boy was tortured, but a report by a psychiatrist revealed that the boy was on treatment for acute psychotic episode.
Acute psychotic episode is an illusionary illness that can be a one-time occurrence, usually of sudden onset, or can occur repeatedly or may be the early phase of mental illness.