Segun Kasali – Lagos
A sexual offence and domestic violence Court in Lagos, has sentenced a cleric, Nduka Anyanwu, to double life imprisonment for defiling and impregnating two biological sisters in a church complex.
Justice Abiola Soladoye convicted the Lagos-based pastor of impregnating a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old, both of whom have been delivered of babies.
The judge who held that evidence of prosecution witnesses were believable and consistent, described the convict as morally bankrupt.
The judge said that the police ought to have charged the parents of the victims and survivors alongside the convict.
She described the parents as irresponsible, saying that they encouraged the survivors to get defiled by the defendant.
On several occasions, one of the survivors went back to the parents to complain about the conduct of the defendant. She was beaten and sent back to the defendant’s home.
“The prosecution has proved the ingredients of the offences against the morally-bankrupt defendant,” she said.
The judge held that the cleric should have his name written in the state’s Sexual Offenders Register.
According to Lagos State Government, Anyanwu committed the offences on Aug. 3, 2020, on Arowojobe Street, Oshodi, Lagos State.
The prosecution team called five witnesses to prove their case against the cleric.
The witnesses are the survivors, their parents and a social worker.
The convict testified as the sole defence witness.
According to the prosecution, Anyanwu defiled and impregnated the sisters on the pretext of holding prayer sessions with them.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
