A pastor in Baringo North Sub-County is struggling with stigma three months after being acquitted of a trumped-up charge of defiling and impregnating a schoolgirl.

Evans Bundotich, popularly known as Pastor Nehemiah, said he has endured continuous public ridicule for a false accusation that has ruined his reputation as a man of the cloth.

Pastor Bundotich said that the unfortunate turn of events made him lose many friends since the time of his dramatic arrest in Kabartonjo Town for the alleged offence that he was informed happened during Christmas Eve in 2023.

Speaking to journalists in Kabarnet Town on December 9, Pastor Nehemiah said no individual should be made to undergo the kind of humiliation he was subjected to for his faith.

Flanked by his sister and fellow clerics who stood by him, Nehemiah narrated the ordeal he underwent for nearly two years that made him lose property through auction to finance the struggle in the corridors of justice.

“I was ridiculed all through from the moment I was thrown into police cells up to remand prison, where I spent 19 days. But the most painful part was after my relatives struggled to raise a Ksh250,000 bond to secure my temporary release. I still overheard some people say bad things about me,” Nehemiah recounted.

He said he was lucky that his case reached a logical conclusion after DNA tests and inconsistent testimonies from the complainant aided the court to exonerate him. Despite the tribulations, the man of God said he has forgiven all those framed him for the defilement charge.

His sister, Naomi Ruto pointed out that she learnt of the shocking allegations about her brother through social media, which she described as depressing news as it negatively affected their ageing parents back home. They received the information with utter disbelief, she said.

She added that they were worried their brother might be overwhelmed by the situation and dreaded the likelihood of him committing suicide.

Wilfred Kandie, an elder of the local church of the pastor said they hosted him after the district church council relieved him of his duties and he remained as an ordinary member until the time when the trial wound up.

Kandie said that during the time Pastor Nehemiah was suspended, the church offered him psychosocial support but the challenge was organising a fees fundraiser for his school-going children.

“Pastor Nehemiah has a wife and five children and they were living peacefully. That is why we decided as a church to stand with him through thick and thin, even now as he picks the pieces his life,” said Kandie.

Pastor Joshua Abraham, who was one of the witnesses revealed that on the day when the pastor was arrested, he was indeed presiding over a wedding ceremony was seven kilometres away from the reported scene of crime and that he even signed a visitor’s book for his church before he hosted him until late in the evening contrary to the accusation. He challenged all church members not to make rush conclusions especially of what is said about their leaders adding that the devil is targeting the servants of God. 

Baringo Human Rights Consortium chairperson Bishop William Kitilit, apart from urging the society to shun making blanket condemnations, said he has known Nehemiah since his youthful days and added he is an honest person and very respectful person.

Kitilit of ‘Ways of Christ church’ commended the Kabarnet court for adjudging the case objectively while urging other jurisdictions to borrow a leaf from the court. He at the same time called on institutions charged with overseeing gender-based violence to take a keen interest in male gender whom he observed is have been oppressed.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Benson Kelio