When the late Mary Deya was presented at the Nairobi law courts during a hearing of a case where she is accused of abducting children. [File, Standard]
'Miracle babies' saga closes with Mary Deya's death
National
By
Isaiah Gwengi
| Mar 20, 2026
Mary Deya, the widow of controversial preacher Gilbert Deya, was found dead at her home in Bondo, bringing renewed attention to one of Kenya’s most controversial religious sagas.
According to police, the deceased was last seen in public three days before her body was discovered on Monday morning at her home.
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Bondo sub-county police commander Robert Aboki said investigations have been launched to establish the cause of death, adding that the body was moved to a mortuary pending a postmortem examination.
Family members described the death as shocking, coming just months after the loss of her husband in a road accident on the Kisumu–Bondo road.
Police say investigations are ongoing to establish the cause of death.
In the early 2000s, Mary Deya became a central figure in the so-called “miracle babies” saga.
Together with her husband, Gilbert Deya, the founder of Gilgal International Ministries, she claimed that women who were infertile or even past menopause could conceive and give birth through prayer.
The claims attracted desperate couples from Kenya, the UK, and beyond, many convinced they had found divine intervention.
Investigations by authorities in Kenya and the UK later challenged the claims, leading to prosecutions.
In a landmark ruling, the High Court in Nairobi upheld her conviction for child stealing, finding that she had unlawfully taken a child from a hospital and falsely claimed to have given birth.
The court relied heavily on medical and forensic evidence, including DNA tests, which proved that she was not the biological mother of the child in question.
She had initially been convicted in 2011 and sentenced to three years in prison, with additional sentences for giving false information, which were to run concurrently.
Gilbert Deya had built a powerful religious following in the 1990s after relocating to the UK, where he established churches promising healing and miracle births.
The ministry grew rapidly, particularly among African diaspora communities.
But the movement eventually collapsed under the weight of investigations, criminal cases, and public scrutiny tied to the “miracle babies” claims.
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