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| The alleged pastor |
Operatives of the National Agency for the
Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), have arrested a 48-year-old
Pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Church (MFM), Gwaripa Branch,
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, for allegedly impregnating a 16-year-old
girl.
The suspect, David, was said to have volunteered to
provide shelter and also conduct deliverance on the girl after she was accused
of witchcraft, but thereafter took advantage of the vulnerability of the
innocent girl and repeatedly sexually violated her.
The victim, a Junior Secondary School (JSS2) student
of one of the government schools in Abuja, dropped out of school and was in
dare need of accommodation shortly after the death of her parents in 2018.
Investigation revealed that the randy Pastor, who
lost his wife sometimes ago, had once lived in the same compound with the
victim’s parents in Karmo community, a suburb of Abuja. The pastor volunteered
to harbour her and promised to assist in her education so as to give her a
fulfilled life.
According to the victim, after the first year of
their living together, the pastor started making love advances toward her, an
action she constantly resisted.
She narrated that the first time the pastor raped
her was in March this year on her birthday. She explained that the pastor had
taken her and his daughter out on birthday celebration to some relaxation
centres in Abuja.
She further narrated that in the evening, after
daughter of the pastor had gone to bed; he approached and pounced on her,
ignoring all pleas for mercy.
It was gathered that the pastor had since, continued
to rape her at will, which later led to pregnancy.
During interrogation, the pastor confessed to have
sexually abused the girl only twice and attributing the evil act to the “work
of the devil.”
He stated that he actually took the girl in to
conduct deliverance for her and also enroll her in school having missed school
for about two years.
“After the deliverance, she has no place to stay, I
then took her to live with me and my daughter,” admitted the pastor.
The Director General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah -
Donli, described the action of the man as the highest form of wickedness
against fellow human being considering the fact that the victim was vulnerable
and a helpless orphan.
Okah – Donli said: “I’m deeply sad and disappointed
by the action of this man who ordinarily ought to have provided hope for the
girl by virtue of his position as a clergy. Rather than doing what is
biblically expected of him in line with his calling, he abused his position and
preyed on the very victim he supposed to protect.
“Arising from the increased cases of rapes and
sexual abuses of female children and even male across the country, I have
directed massive sensitization of men forks across the country in order to
arrest the situation. This prevailing evil acts must stop.”
She disclosed that the case shall be diligently
prosecuted in order to secure justice for the victim.
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