NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A Kenyan court dropped abduction charges against two Australian Christians Friday after their alleged victim appeared at the hearing.
Roland and Susan Gianstefani, members of a religious group called the Jesus Christians, appeared in a Nairobi court to face charges of abducting Kenyan journalist Betty Waitherero Njoroge and her 7-year-old son, Joshua, The Australian reported.
Njoroge attended the court hearing Friday and presented an affidavit stating that she had joined the Jesus Christians of her own free will.
"I affirm that both Roland and Susan Gianstefani are innocent of these false charges," she said.
The group had claimed the charges were an attempt to force Njoroge to relinquish custody of Joshua to her wealthy father, the report said.
The Gianstefanis faced similar charges in England in 2000, where a court gave them suspended 6-month jail sentences for refusing to reveal the whereabouts of an English teenager who disappeared to join the religious group.
Bobby Kelly, 16, left home in June 2000 and was found a month later living with two men in a tent in a Hampshire forest.
