The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has asked for information that may lead to the arrest of a Kenyan pastor accused of taking advantage of young girls.
“If you have information and evidence relating to the same please send it to publiccomplaints@odpp.go.ke,” the ODPP tweeted.
A girl came out guns blazing with accusations about a pastor – Ken Gomeri – who allegedly tried to solicit for sex from her and her friends three years ago.
“I’m going to do a thread of our (me and two of my friends’) experience with Pastor Ken Gomeri,” the girl named Purity @NdutaSs said in a tweet on Saturday.
“Please note that I’m not trying to discredit him or get him arrested, I’m just coming out with this story because our silence may have enabled him to take advantage of more girls.”
According to Purity, she – alongside two other friends, then all between 18 and 19 years old – had gone to buy dinner at a popular mall on Thika Road in June 2016.
It is here that they bumped into Pastor Gomeri whom they recognised because he previously frequented their high school to preach and coached their hockey team every so often.
After exchanging pleasantries, Gomeri allegedly offers to buy them dinner during which he spoke about “things that are being said about him online that are bothering him.”
“The first red light was on the same night, he called and asked to come over to our house at around midnight, but, it’s Pasi, we didn’t think much about it,” she said.
Purity added, “Next morning, we leave, so it’s Ken, his friend (man) and three of us girls, going to Nyeri in his infamous Subaru.”
She noted that on their way to Nyeri, his friend stopped to buy alcohol, which according to her was weird.
“…but it’s his friend who was drinking, not him, so, again, ignored the red light. We watched the tournament, went to have dinner at night, he offered to buy us alcohol too but we declined,” she said.
The lady then said they decided to spend the night in Nyeri as it was late.
“Now that’s where we started getting scared. He insisted that we’ll all sleep in one room because he didn’t have the money I guess,” she said.
Purity added that the preacher, however, declined to sleep on the same bed with his friend saying circumcised men don’t share the same bed.
“We complain argue resist but he insists, he can’t share a bed with a man, us girls have to choose who will sleep with which guy. His friend sleeps with my friend, I sleep with him and my other friend. At this point we’re very aware something is wrong,” she continued.
“We all sleep in our jeans and belts and sweaters but now, he wants to cuddle, and he starts the “you’re not supposed to sleep with jeans” talk.”
She said the men started talking about fivesomes, orgies, the orgy he watched in Mombasa adding that it was clear that he and his friend had done it before.
“Now that’s where we started getting scared. He insisted that we’ll all sleep in one room because he didn’t have the money I guess,” she said.
Purity added that the preacher, however, declined to sleep on the same bed with his friend saying circumcised men don’t share the same bed.
“We complain argue resist but he insists, he can’t share a bed with a man, us girls have to choose who will sleep with which guy. His friend sleeps with my friend, I sleep with him and my other friend. At this point we’re very aware something is wrong,” she continued.
“We all sleep in our jeans and belts and sweaters but now, he wants to cuddle, and he starts the “you’re not supposed to sleep with jeans” talk.”
She said the men started talking about fivesomes, orgies, the orgy he watched in Mombasa adding that it was clear that he and his friend had done it before.”He started complaining about how turned on and hard he was, trying to touch us inappropriately, he was visibly getting angry and one of my friends was doing the silent crying,” she said.
Next morning, Purity said the pastor continued trying to have sex with them by touching them inappropriately.
“…talking about sex and how disappointed he was. We drove back up to Nairobi, I was dropped off first but two of my friends went with him, he was supposed to drop them off in Roysambu,” she said.
“So, they ask if (he) remembers their house in Roysambu. He says yes and it’s agreed that he’s taking them home. Next thing they knew, they were in Kasarani. He insists they need to eat supper at least. On getting to his place, it’s packed with people (his team that does the mission).”
Purity goes on: “This put them at ease. But then in 5 minutes, everyone leaves. This just leaves them, another male and him. He gives excuse after excuse as to why they shouldn’t leave. That they need to sleep over. When they finally put their foot down he got so upset. The other male in the house ended up taking them home.”
She appealed to women who have a similar story to share their experience in order to protect other girls.
According to the Sexual Offences Act 2006, a person who attempts to commit an act which would cause penetration with a child is guilty of an offence termed as attempted defilement.
Similarly, a person who commits an offence of attempted defilement with a child is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years.
