A 23-year-old student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko in Akure Ondo State, (names withheld) has on Tuesday, narrated how she was r#p#d by the founder of her church, one Oluwafeyiropo Daniels, to an Ikeja Special Offences and Domestic Violence Court . Oluwafeyiropo Daniels is the Pastor and Founder of I Reign Christian Family Church.
The witness, told the court that her first encounter with the bishop was on May 28, 2018, when he visited Akure for a programme. The witness, who was later made an Assistant Pastor of the above mentioned church’s branch in Akure, was led in examination-in-chief by the Lagos State prosecution counsel, Babajide Boye, testified that subsequently, she became a member of the church and when her pastor, Toyosi Bamishe, needed to hand over to Pastor Boluwatife Oladejo, she was made the assistant pastor.
She said during the case presided over by Justice Ramon Oshodi that the bishop summoned her to the Lagos church to be punished for her inability to attend a ministers’ conference that clashed with her brother’s wedding and her failure to meet the deadline set for her to transcribe about six audio teachings of the bishop. According to her, She said, “on June 21, 2020, Bishop Oluwafeyiropo Daniels directed me to come to the sitting room for me to present the church’s report and to show me the plans he had for the church in the next five to 10 years. I was listening to a television programme when he entered the sitting room and ordered me to take off my clothes. He said he wanted to have s#x with me as a proof of my loyalty to her. I told him I cannot have s#x with him because he was not my husband.
According to her, when she did not cooperate with him, the bishop resorted to r#pi#g her. She said, “He pinned me against a three-seater couch and r#p#d me. He was bigger than me and I was bleeding from my private part. “I was begging him but he didn’t listen. I told him I was bleeding, he said he knew and that I should shut up.
“When he was done, he ordered me to go and wash up immediately. He collected my phone and cleaned the blood before I came out. He said I should not tell anybody and that the day I tell anyone, I will run mad.” The victim said she was scared but that on the following day, she got her phone and sent her pastor a message on Whatsapp through a code and he figured that she had been violated.
She added, “On June 23, I was planning how to leave and when I came out of the room, he was tying a red towel and he said I should even be happy that he r#ped me, that he told me he wanted to have s#x with me and I rejected him. “He said people would have been happy that he had s#x with them. He took off my clothes and r#ped me again. He told me that I would die if I tell anyone. “I bled the second time and he ordered me again to go and take my bath and ordered me back into the room. I immediately sent a message to Pastor Oladejo that the bishop had r#ped me again.”
She explained that the defendant took her to a Lekki-based hospital where she met a doctor who was also a member of the Lekki Church. The victim said before they got to the hospital, the defendant warned her in the car that she should tell the doctor that she was r#ped by her boyfriend.
The case was adjourned till May 24 and 25 for continuation of trial.