A self-described Ugandan prophet was remanded into prison custody on Friday after a widely shared online video showed him administering lashes to members of his church.
Kintu Dennis, 42, of the Hoima Empowerment Church International, is shown ordering his followers to the front of the church to be whipped or they had to stop attending services and lose the privilege of handling his microphone.
The video started circulating Thursday and shows followers presenting themselves before they are beaten on their backs and buttocks. Their alleged crime was incompetence and late-coming, according to church members.
The congregation watched as followers receive their beatings as soft piano music played in the background.
The victims have also attracted intense criticism on social media where users castigated them for blindly following the prophet and being too lazy to read the Bible for themselves.
The incident sparked outrage from Ugandans who urged authorities to intervene.
“Pastor Kintu Denis who recently appeared in a viral media clip beating believers with a magic blessed stick’ in his church in Hoima, has been arrested and charged with 18 counts of trafficking in Persons, Assault, and Promoting Sectarianism,” police wrote in a tweet.
Police searched his church and recovered three pieces of sticks suspected to have been used to beat the faithful.
The prophet told investigators that he was carrying out a demonstration of how Jesus treated those he found selling goods in church.
Uganda has several evangelical churches but they are unregulated and many are run by self-appointed men and women of God.
Prophet Kintu is also infamous for spitting into the mouths of his members for deliverance purposes.