Deya’s wife did not give birth, doctor tells court

Daily Nation, Kenya/December 1, 2005

A clinical examination on the wife of a London-based preacher showed that she had not given birth, a doctor said yesterday.

Dr Edward Gatheru of Nairobi Hospital said that when he examined Mrs Mary Deya, wife of Bishop Gilbert Deya, he found no sign that she had given birth.

Mrs Deya is facing a child theft charge but has denied committing the offence.

“There was no private parts tear or laceration and I realised that there was some falsehood,” Dr Gatheru said.

He said that her temperature was normal and her breasts had no milk.

The doctor told Kibera senior principal magistrate Catherine Mwangi that Mrs Deya claimed she gave birth outside Odeon Cinema, Nairobi. She also told him she attended clinics at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

“She told me her husband was not in the country but she did not tell me where she lived,” he said.

Dr Gatheru was testifying in a case in which Mrs Deya and others are said to have stolen a baby at Kenyatta on September 10. The mother of the infant named only as “Baby A” is unknown.

Yesterday, prosecutor Peter Ngata added two more charges of giving false information, which she also denied.

“I gave birth to the child,” Mrs Deya maintained.

In cross-examination by the defence lawyer, Mr Karathe Wandugi, the doctor said that all patients who go to the hospital are required to tell the truth.

Dr Gatheru said that any woman who has given birth has to have milk in her breasts. But Mrs Deya had none.