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  Fresh Twist to Kizito Sex Claim Probe

By Dominic Wabala
Daily Nation
June 19, 2009

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/613040/-/ukbmkx/-/

Investigations into claims of sexual abuse of four boys by a Catholic priest entered their second day on Friday with one of the boys allegedly failing to implicate the cleric.

A senior police officer said that one of the boys claimed he could not recall being abused by the priest, Father Renato Kizito.

Father Renato Kizito during an interview at Shalom House on Ngong Road in Nairobi on Wednesday
Photo by Stephen Mudiari

The three other boys are reported to have accused the priest, who runs a home for destitute boys, of sexually abusing them. But a police doctor's medical examination of the four did not find any conclusive evidence that they had been sexually abused.

The alleged victims, aged 11, 17, 24 and 25 years, were scheduled to be examined again yesterday.

The youngest, who was accompanied by his mother and a lawyer, could not remember being defiled but recorded a statement with the investigating officer at the Criminal Investigations Department headquarters.

Deputy police spokesman Charles Owino Wakhong'o yesterday said three of the complainants were taken to a reputable Nairobi hospital for further examination to get a second opinion.

The youngest complainant was not examined because he did not implicate the priest.

"The youngest complainant's statement did not implicate the priest, so he was not taken for the second medical examination but the other three were taken for further medical examination at a reputable Nairobi hospital for conclusive evidence," Mr Wakhong'o said.

The orphaned boys have accused Father Kizito of defiling them over a period of time and allegedly threatening to cut financial support to them.

Police said they recorded statements at the CID headquarters on June 5 but Father Kizito was away in Italy and could not have been arrested.

Mr Wakhong'o said when he came back he approached the police and filed a complaint against some trustees for alleged mismanagement of funds.

Reports indicate that an application for a warrant of arrest for Father Kizito had been lodged at Kilimani Police Station before a statement of the alleged sexual abuse was recorded.

At the same time, two trustees of the Koinonia Community Michael Ochieng and Michael Omondi Owiso alleged that a board meeting held on May 4 this year had dropped Father Kizito as a trustee after the sex abuse allegations were discussed.

 
 

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