PREMIUM TIMES
A 65-year-old pastor has allegedly raped his seven-year-old house help in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.
The suspect, Francis Ogwu, hails from Imo State but resides in Awka, Anambra State, according to a statement by Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, a media aide to the State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, on Thursday.
Arrest
Ms Ikeanyionwu said Mr Ogwu, a pastor and general overseer of Jesus House of Joy Church, Awka, has been arrested over the alleged crime.
The media aide said the suspect was arrested in response to an alarm raised by some residents in the neighbourhood that he had been raping the girl child.
She said the suspect lives with his wife and children alongside the house help in Awka.
The statement did not indicate when the suspect allegedly raped the survivor.
‘My wife starves me of sex.’
A video clip, which showed the suspect and the survivor being interrogated, was uploaded on Facebook on Thursday.
In the clip, Mr Ogwu denied raping the survivor.
“I only fingered her once,” he claimed.
Asked why he did not go to his wife instead, he replied, “The problem with my wife is that each time I wanted her, she would tell me that she was fasting or doing night vigil.”
Mr Ogwu also claimed that the devil must have pushed him into the act, given that the survivor had yet to develop breasts that could possibly attract him to her.
“Since 1991 till now, I have been preaching the gospel,” he claimed and pleaded for forgiveness.
The suspect’s wife was asked to respond to her husband’s claim that she frequently denied him sex, but she said she would not be able to answer the question.
She said she was not aware that her husband was raping the survivor.
How he raped me – Survivor
Ms Ikeanyionwu said the survivor narrated to the commissioner how the suspect allegedly raped her.
The survivor, according to the statement, said the suspect had allegedly raped her three times, after which he gifted her between N500 and N1000.
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