On Monday, the Ekiti High Court Ado Ekiti sentenced a 47-year-old pastor Adeleye Akingbaso to R3 to life imprisonment for a 13-year-old girl.
The offender was arraigned in September 2022 on two charges bordering R3PE and coercion.
The charge reads: “The Prophet, sometime in July 2022, was a 13-year-old girl from R3PE. Similarly, in July 2021, Prophet Adeleye forced the victim to engage in sexual acts to harm her physical and mental health.
“These crimes violate Article 31(2) of the Child Rights Act, cap. C7, Ekiti State’s Law, Gender-based Violence (Injunction) Law of Ekiti State in 2012 and Ekiti State, Law No. 18 of 2019.”
In the court testimony, the victim described the pastor as his mother’s friend and slept in their home, and he said the man performed one night while his mother was on duty.
“He woke up at midnight and said I did something wrong, which was strange to me. He took out a bottle of shea butter and rubbed it on my vagina. That’s all I know. Later I found out that I was sent by R3 that night. He threatened me that he would curse me and if I told anyone, I would die,” she said.
“The next day, when my mother was away, he came to our house again. I was in the kitchen and he told me he wanted to finish what he had started the night before. He tried to rough me, but I escaped and yelled for help, and then our neighbors saved me. They called my mother’s incident. She returned home and later reported the case to the police.”
To prove his case, prosecutor Taiwo Ariyo called four witnesses and called the victim’s statement and medical report the exhibition, while the defendant spoke in his own defense through attorney Adelanke Akinrata, an unnamed witness.
In the court verdict, the judge blessed Ajileye to feel guilty of both charges.
Ajikeye said: “All in all, the court was guilty of the defendant’s two counts of R3PE and coercion and was convicted of him accordingly. This would be a deterrent to the others in the defendant’s class who were not caught by the legal Nanos.
“In the first (rape), the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment, sentenced to two (coercion), and the defendant was sentenced to three years in prison. Judge Ajileye announced that both clauses were run at the same time.”
