Crime
Lagos pastor bags life imprisonment for raping church member
Lagos pastor bags life imprisonment for raping church member
An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence court on Friday sentenced founder of iReign Christian Ministry, Feyi Daniels, to life imprisonment for “raping a church member”.
The trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, found the Lagos-based cleric guilty of rape and sexual assault of a female worshipper.
The Bishop, who took to the witness box in his own defence, testified that he believed three out of the four women who accused him of sexually assaulting them conspired to turn against him.
While fielding questions under cross-examination, the prosecution’s lead counsel, Babajide Boye, sought to establish that the defendant, Bishop Daniels, had a ‘personal relationship’ with the four women.
Boye alleged that the defendant had counselled one of the women, given the amount of N100,000 to another for hospital treatment, paid school fees for a third, and related with a fourth as a leader in the campus fellowship affiliated with his ministry at Akungba-Akobo in Ondo State.
But the Bishop denied giving money to one of the women for treatment. He said, “I believe all three ladies turned against me, but not (name withheld) because she later apologised to me.”
When asked why the accusations from the ladies were all sexual in nature, the defendant said he didn’t know.
Boye also accused the defendant of using his position as a Pastor to manipulate persons who come to him for counselling.
“You are a man of God. Are you not? A powerful man of God. You get trained to counsel, and you use wisdom and the leading of the spirit to manipulate,” he asked.
However, Daniels denied this allegation, saying, “I am not a powerful man; I am a pastor. I do not use power to counsel people; I am not a manipulator.”
The Prosecutor further grilled the defendant, “You visited your Akungba fellowship centre, and when she (one of the alleged victims) saw you, she hissed. Were you not surprised as a pastor?
“No. She was disgruntled because I couldn’t help her financially.”
The defendant also denied tampering with the WhatsApp messages between him and one of his alleged victims.
During the cross-examination, the prosecutor also sought to tender four statements purportedly written by the defendant whilst in police custody at various intervals last year.
“There are contradictions between the defendant’s testimony and the contents of the documents. We seek to use them to impeach his testimony. We rely on section 232 of the Evidence Act, that evidence even though obtained improperly is still admissible and we urge the court to admit same,” Boye said.
The defence counsel, Adebayo Adegbite, raised objections to the admissibility of the statements. He argued that the statements were not made by the defendant and that the Bishop signed them under duress.
“The statements are a mixture of confession and denial. We leave it to the court to determine whether they amount to a confession. Right from the start of this trial, the defendant has denied the charges, that’s his plea. The documents weren’t made voluntarily. Even if there were contradictions, he wasn’t the maker of the documents, they were written by the police,” Adegbite stated.
Meanwhile, in his ruling, Justice Rahman Oshodi admitted the documents. The judge said, “By section 9(3) and (4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (2021), the presence of a video testimony of the suspect is desirable but not compulsory. I will admit the documents and later consider the evidential value to place on them. The objection of the defence is hereby overruled.”
A Kaduna High Court on Tuesday ordered that two brothers be remanded in a correctional centre for alleged culpable homicide and armed robbery.
The police charged Hamza Jibrin, 27 and Yusuf Jibrin 24, with conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide.
Justice Aisha Shagari ordered the remand of the defendants, after they pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them.
Shagari adjourned the matter until Dec. 12 for hearing.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, James Edward, said that the defendants and two others at large, while armed with matchete and other dangerous weapons along Airport Road, Kaduna, on Nov. 7, robbed and caused the death of a 26-year-old man, Rabiu Sani.
He said the defendants stole the deceased’s HP laptop, two cell phones, his wallet which contained two ATM cards and cash sum of N30,000.
Edward said that the offence is punishable under the Robbery and Firearms ( Special Provision) Act LFN, 2004.
The Defence counsel, Habiba Usman, had pleaded with the court to grant her clients bail.
Usman while moving her bail application, urged the court to gtant her client bail on literal terms, adding , that the defendants would be of good behaviour and would not jump bail.
A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced a 20-year-old trader, Darwang Chung, to nine months in prison for attempted theft.
Chung, who resides at Gyel in Jos South, pleaded guilty to the one count charge of attempted theft.
The Magistrate, Mr Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Bokkos, in his judgement, gave the convict an option of N30,000 fine, or to risk six months in prison and a compensation of N15,000 or another 3 months in prison in default.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Labaran Ahmed, told the court that the case was reported on Oct. 6, at the”B” Division Police Station by one Yohanna Dalyop, the complainant.
Ahmed said the convict jumped over the fence into the house of the complainant and was caught.
He said that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code Law.
The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Police, on Tuesday arraigned a defendant before a Federal High Court in Lagos, over alleged unlawful interception of digital infrastructure.
The defendant, Ayodeji Oyenekan, was charged before Justice A. Aluko, on a three-count charge bordering on cybercrime.
He, however. pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, Mr M. Y. Bello, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime in February 2022.
He, alleged that the defendant intentionally and without authorisation, intercepted digital infrastructure server hosted by Amazon Web Services, property of Meplaylist Classic Entertainment.
According to the prosecution, the defendant caused the said Meplaylist Classic Entertainment Ltd. loss of property, by altering Amazon Web services, which restricted the rightful owner access to its server.
He alleged that the defendant inputted his email address ayodeji.oye@meplaylist.com, and allegedly built a mobility startup called Hellobikee, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The defendant was also alleged to have fraudulently made use of the electronic unique identification feature of Meplaylist, through his email, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 12(1), 16(1), and 22(2)(a) of the Cybercrime ( Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015.
The court granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety in like sum.
The court held that the defendant shall remain in the correctional facility, pending perfection of all conditions of bail as spelt out by the court.
He adjourned the case until Jan. 21, 2025, for trial.
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