Irish man wins case against Kenyan authorities following 'malicious' prosecution

An Irish man was maliciously prosecuted when he was wrongly accused of violating the terms of his visa, a court in Kenya has ruled.

Rory Bracken took a civil action against the Kenyan authorities because he believed he was wrongfully arrested in the east African country in 2019 where he was preaching the gospel in his role as a “servant of God”.

Bracken, now 64 and a resident of Co Laois, spent 23 days in custody before the trial five years ago and was then found not guilty six months later.

He has now been vindicated in the civil courts and was awarded 400,000 Kenyan shillings, which is nearly €2,900 at current exchange rates.

Though his claim was for compensation of more than four million shillings and he says the monetary value of the award is a “joke”, Bracken said he is not bitter about it and believes an apology from the Kenyan government is more important.

“It took six months for the trial of me to be finished, the hotels and the meals cost more than the judgment that was given to me,” said Bracken.

“I just wanted my name cleared and after five years I was awarded money for a malicious prosecution.”

The half-decade saga began in February 2019 when he entered an immigration office in Kisumu, Kenya to seek information about extending his 90-day visa which was due to expire in eight days.

He was arrested on charges which have now found to be maliciously brought and in the criminal trial it was alleged that he was found to be engaging in pastoral activities and was in employment.

The authorities told him after his arrest that he had been working for the Peace Deliverance Church, a claim Bracken denied.

He runs Testify World Ministries and his preaching brought him into contact with pastors in Kenya prior to his arrest but “all the so called men of God in Kenya ran away and none of them were in that court”.

“It was me and Jesus in that court but I was found not guilty in a criminal trial so I sued the Kenyan government in a civil suit for wrongful imprisonment.”

He was tried on charges of failing to comply with the conditions of his visa and being present in Kenya unlawfully.

The judge in the criminal trial said: “With regards to the issue whether the accused person breached the terms and conditions of his visa, the prosecution evidence before the court is purely oral. A classic case of your word against mine. There is no evidence whatsoever placing the accused person at a place of work preaching, there is no evidence of his employment at the Peace Deliverance Church Siaya. This court is crystal clear that this task of putting evidence before this court lays with the prosecution.

“In light of the aforementioned, this court finds that the prosecution has not demonstrated that the accused person breached the terms and condition of his visa by being in employment.”

The judge also ruled that at the time of his arrest Bracken had a valid visa and was lawfully in Kenya.

After his arrest Bracken was detained for 23 days at Kodiaga prison because he could not raise the required 500,000 shillings cash bail.

In October 2019 Bracken brought a case against the Kenyan DPP, the country's Inspector General of Police, its Director of Immigration and the Attorney General of Kenya for malicious prosecution.

He sought general damages, punitive and exemplary damages, interest on both and his costs.

It was July 2022 before the attorney general filed a statement of defence and a hearing took place in August last year.

By then Bracken was back in Ireland but he participated online and testified that he had been lawfully in Kenya and upon his arrest was mistreated, mishandled and not informed as to why he was arrested.

The civil trial was told Bracken was “subjected to sleeping on the floor, poor feeding and exposed to Hepatitis B” in Kodiaga prison and though he was released he was not allowed to leave Kenya until his criminal case was completed.

He was then acquitted on August 14, 2019 “after he had suffered humiliation and distress caused by the defendants”.

The civil court noted the defendants filed a defence but did not call any witnesses and the case was closed on November 28 last.

Part of the civil judgment stated that if the immigration office had carefully looked at Bracken's documents then the man “would not have been charged and prosecuted”.

On March 5 last the order awarding Bracken 400,000 shillings in general damages for malicious prosecution was made and he was also awarded the costs of the suit and interest.

Despite the ruling, Bracken remains aggrieved that the original charges attracted far more publicity in Kenya than the finding of the civil court.

“The money doesn't matter, it's not about the money, it's about the principle that it wasn't put in the news media.”

A short report on the civil case was published in one Kenyan national newspaper but it did not mention the unproven allegation that Bracken was in employment at the Peace Deliverance Church.

“The people of Kenya deserve to know that a man of God was put in prison for the gospel, accused wrongly and found by the courts to be maliciously prosecuted.”

He has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish embassy in Kenya seeking assistance with his request for an “official apology”.

He was told by the Irish embassy last week that they cannot intervene in the judicial processes of another country.

The embassy said it cannot provide legal advice but has offered to provide Bracken with a list of English speaking lawyers in Kenya.

Bracken said his wife, who is from Uganda, suffered a miscarriage because of the stress they were going through in 2019.

After returning to Ireland Bracken, who is a past pupil of Colaiste Choilm (formerly Tullamore CBS) continued his work with Testify World Ministries, which has 9,600 followers on its Facebook page.

Bracken says many of those followers are in Africa and he now plans to travel to Malawi, Kenya and possibly Uganda.

“I didn't make that plan, God has made me that plan. If you told me four months ago that my next place to preach will be Malawi I'd tell you, you were crazy.”

He said his path to becoming a servant of God began when he was living in America.

“I became a servant of God in my own house with a friend of mine and a bible in America, and I spent 10 years praying and just reading the bible. Before that I was a wild man and that's when God spoke to me.”

He remarked: “I'm trying to let people see truth, for truth shall set the world free.”