Nairobi, Kenya - An Australian man is being held by police who are investigating the disappearance of a Kenyan woman and her seven-year-old son.
The 42-year-old man, a member of an international religious cult, was picked up on the city streets on Friday as he distributed religious literature to pedestrians and motorists.
Mr Gianstefani and his wife Susan, were in July 2000 given suspended six-month jail sentences by a British judge for refusing to reveal the whereabouts of a teenage boy, who left home to join the Jesus Christians group.
The boy, Bobby Kelly, who was then 16, sparked a worldwide alert when he left his family to join the sect. He was found a month after his disappearance.
Formed in Sydney
The cult, formed in Sydney, Australia, by Mr David Mackay, has spread to Europe and Africa.
It was described by British newspapers as a nomadic religious cult that calls on members to forsake their job, family and friends so as to show pure devotion to God.
Mr Gianstefani came to Kenya in January and was issued with a permit for his missionary work. He has been living with his Australian wife at Dam estate, Lang'ata.
He is helping police with investigations into the disappearance of a 27-year-old woman and her seven-year-old son whose clothes were traced in a city home after he was reported missing.
The three have not be seen since then, family members said.
The parents of the missing woman visited Gigiri police station yesterday to be briefed on the hunt for their their daughter and her son. The parents reportedly revealed that the missing pair had been in touch with them but would not reveal their whereabouts.
Mother and son left their parents' home on Kiambu road on June 10 to visit a Christian preacher for a week.
The parents sought police help after efforts to persuade their daughter to return home failed.
CID chief Joseph Kamau said: "Our officers have been trying to trace the missing mother and her child since Friday in vain."
It is not clear what information police expect from Mr Gianstefani but the cult, Jesus Christians, has been the target of investigations in other countries.
Mr Kamau asked people whose relatives have been lured to join the cult to report to CID headquarters or the Special Crime Prevention Unit at Gigiri police station.
In his statement to the police, the father of the missing woman said she left their home on Kiambu road on June 10 and took away her seven-year-old son.
Her parents were away and she left the message with the housegirl that she and her son were going to visit her friends for the weekend.
He said his wife called their daughter that evening and asked her where she had gone. She said she would be back on June 12.
On June 11, she sent her mother a text message through the cellphone and requested that the parents wait for her at 4pm the following day at home. She was to bring her friends. She eventually appeared in the company of a Christian couple, but without her son, and announced that she had been offered a temporary job of selling Christian books.
After a heated argument, the parents gave up and told their daughter to make sure she brought back the child on June 17.
The man told the police that his wife visited their grandson's school the following day and told the headmistress the boy would be away for a week.
The headmistress was reported to have been furious and asked the grandmother to accompany her to the offices of a child welfare society where they reported the matter. They were asked to report the matter to the police.
The woman and her child are believed to be hiding somewhere in Western Province.
Group Shrouded in Secrecy
A report in the Daily Express of July 14, 2000, said the Jesus Christians are an Australian-based cult.
Their leader is David McKay, who is thought to have been a member of the notorious Children of God sect before setting up the group.
The number of members in this country or worldwide is not known because members are secretive and reluctant to talk about their activities.
But one of its basic rules is that members have to break contact with their families and friends. They are also expected to hand over all their worldly goods.
And the Evening Standard - London of April 8, 2002, said the Jesus Christians are a nomadic religious cult that calls on members to forsake their job, boss, family and friends in order to show pure devotion to God.
Despite having a base in Sydney, Australia, the international missionaries are constantly on the move, living and travelling in a white Leyland DAF van.
The group is very small, comprising 17 members worldwide, four of whom are usually in Britain.
It is an offshoot of the US Children of God sect, later known as the Family, which was notorious for enticing converts with the promise of sex.
Jesus Christians have staged publicity stunts in Australia, calling for Christians to reject mainstream religion and focus on the word of the New Testament.
They combine preaching in public places with leaflet distribution to attract followers. Members, including couple Susan and Roland Gianstefani, also hand out copies of The Liberator, a religious cartoon book, to lure youngsters.
Converts believe that Aids, UFO sightings, earthquakes and the persecution of Jesus Christians by the media are all signs of an impending apocalypse.
The cult sparked a worldwide alert in June 2000 when Bobby Kelly left his family in Britain to join the cult when he was only 16.
Cult members, Roland and Susan Gianstefani, who refused to divulge Bobby's whereabouts, were in July 2000 spared jail after the teenager defended them.
In a statement passed to the High Court judge in London, Bobby defended the pair saying they tried to shield him from anti-cult campaigner Graham Baldwin.