Kenyans appear in court over alleged church disturbances

Stephen Gichure (left), a Kenyan man charged with trespass for attending church service at Ushindi church after being warned against it, together with family and friends who accompanied him at the Lowell District court in Lowell, Mass.A second accused Kenyan, Daniel Mingi is not in the picture above. H.Maina/Ajabu Media.

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted July 5, 2011 , Last Updated 7/6/2011, 3.53 pm

LOWELL, Mass._Looking confident and unruffled about the events that developed over the weekend leading to their arrests at the Ushindi church in Lowell, Stephen Gichure and Daniel Kibui Mingi appeared at the Lowell District Court and denied the charges preferred.

Accompanied by family members and friends, Gichure and Mingi each pleaded not guilty to charges of trespass and interference with police work respectively.

Declining   the option to pay a $100.00 fine and have the trespass case against him dismissed before Judge Brooks who was presiding over the 1st session at the Lowell District court, Gichure was ordered to return to court on August 15, 2011 for a pre-trial hearing.

   The judge also ordered Gichure’s compatriot, Daniel Mingi, to return to court on August 28, 2011 for a hearing on charges that he interfered with police work and for disorderly conduct   that caused members of the Ushindi who were worshipping inside the church and members of the public including motorists around the area of the church location to be distracted.

Police records showed that while the officers were walking Gichure down the hallway to exit the building, Mingi continued to follow them claiming that Gichure was his father and he was going to be with him.

"I advised this male if he did not stop interfering with us doing our job, he would be subject to arrest", court records showed.

"This male then dared this officer to arrest him", court documents further revealed.

Court documents further said that while being arrested after continuously demanding to know why the police were arresting Gichure, he kneeled down against a wall outside the church building and engaged in a loud and boisterous prayer in his native language that caused members of the public to pause and take notice.

"These actions caused numerous LPD units to respond as his loud tumultuous behavior could be heard over the police radio", the charge further added.

 Having no defense attorney on his behalf, Mingi was informed of an option to take a court appointed attorney.

He decided to take the court offered option for his defense.

Consequently, Mingi was ordered to report back to court on the 28th of August for a hearing .

According to court documents tabled at the court and obtained by Ajabu Media, the second accused, Stephen Gichure is facing one count of criminal charge of trespass for being an unwanted man who returned to the Ushindi church on Sunday July 3rd despite having been verbally warned by the police recently against attendance due to his disruptions of the church service.

The documents further indicated that as officers were on their way to respond to the call, information came through   that the person in question was on record as a trespasser who had recently been given a verbal notice by the police at the request of the pastor of the church Dr. Rev. Karimi Mumbui, during a past incident on June 19th 2011.

“When we went off, i was met by the caller, Simon Kirubi. Mr. Kirubi advised these officers that they had a man in their church that had caused frightening disturbances at the church in the past”, Court documents revealed.

 The Lowell Police Department (LPD) records further showed that when the officers arrived in the church, Kirubi pointed out the unwanted man in the section of the church where he was located and the man then complied with police requests to come out of the sermon area and getting arrested.

However, according to Gichure, he said he was not aware of any notice permanently barring him from attending the church and still considered Ushindi Church as his place of worship. 

Representing himself and looking confident, Gichure told the judge that he had been a longstanding member of the Ushindi church and still considers himself as one, therefore he was disturbed at the efforts to disqualify him from the church.

 He told the Judge that he preferred to contest the charges brought against him rather than paying the suggested $100.00 fine and have the case dismissed as he feared that might mean that he was guilty and that he would never return to the Ushindi church.

 Judge Brooks agreed to give Gichure a chance to speak his mind at a pretrial hearing set for August 15.

 Asked on what options to take regarding legal representation, Gichure told the Judge that he would get his own lawyer to represent him during the pre-trial hearing. 

Stephen Gichure and Daniel Kibui Mingi outside the Lowell District Court in Lowell.

The two Kenyans then congregated outside the court house together with a handful of friends and family who had turned up for the hearing to strategize on the next move.

 “I believe I am not guilty of the charges and I will fight them to the end”, said Mingi while speaking to Ajabu Africa News outside the courthouse.

 “I will comply with the court orders to stay away from the church during the period that his case will be heard”, said Gichure. “But I will defend my faith and right of worship at any cost without fear of intimidation”, he added.

 The two cases underline yet another milestone of the ever evolving trouble at the Kenyan community Presbyterian Church that started late last year when the pastor of the church was found guilty by a church based court for 3 counts of sexual abuse on a young church member that ended with the defrocking of the pastor.

 However, the pastor revoked his affiliation with the church oversight body (PNNE) that constituted the court that found him guilty and defrocked him as a result.

He also denied any legally binding relationship between Ushindi church and the New Hampshire based PNNE rendering PNNE incapable of any further action over the alleged sexual abuse charges.

 Since then the two church organizations have been locked in legal battles that are still pending in courts regarding jurisdiction and legal oversight relationship as well as church funds that were in custody of PNNE when Dr. Karimi filed a motion to force PNNE return the funds in the tune of $230,000 to the Ushindi church.

 A presiding Judge at the Woburn Superior court ordered the funds to remain in the custody of PNNE but not to be spent at all without the express mutual consent between the lawyers representing both the PNNE and Dr. Karimi.

With discontent and tension reigning in the church, PNNE on their part moved to file a court injunction to have the pastor restrained from attending or conducting the Ushindi church affairs.

 The motion was denied for insufficient evidence to show any irreparable harm that would occur to members of the church if pastor Mumbui was not removed from the church.

After the failure of the motion, attorneys representing the presbytery indicated that they were studying their options regarding the failed injunction to determine on their next move.

 It was not immediately clear whether the PNNE attorneys would step in and defend the two accused men who claim to be long term members of the church.

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