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German missionary accused of sodomising Kenyan boys acquitted after 8 years

December 17th, 2015 1 min read

By RICHARD MUNGUTI, @RichardMunguti

A missionary who has been in custody for eight years for the offence of sexually molesting underage boys walked to freedom on Thursday after he was acquitted.

Mr Ulrich Karl-Heinz Flesch, a German national who has been behind bars since 2007, was cleared of three charges of sexually molesting destitute boys under his care.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo discharged the accused for lack of evidence saying “the prosecution failed in its duty to lead evidence linking the accused to the serious offence.”

Mr Ogembo said the prosecution, led by an assistant director of public prosecutions Ms Jacinta Nyamosi, provided contradictory testimony.

He further said one of the three boys alleged to have been sodomised exonerated the missionary from blame saying “ he did not touch me”.

‘VERY GOOD MAN’

The accused was arrested in Uganda while trying to flee the country from his Limuru Mission after he learnt that the police were investigating him for the offence.

The boys who were allegedly sodomized used to reside at Nyumba ya Mkate (House of Bread) in Limuru within Kiambu County. The magistrate said five witnesses from Uganda who were called by the defence also praised Flesch “as a very good man.”

The case had failed to take off eights times before several magistrates.

Mr Flesch was alleged to have committed the offences on diverse dates in the year 2006 at his residence within the compound of Rehoboth Church in Limuru, Kiambu County.

The magistrate directed that typed proceedings be supplied to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further action.

However, Mr Flesch may not enjoy his freedom for long as he is being sought back in German for prosecution of related offences.