A 23-year-old former assistant pastor has told the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, Lagos State how bishop Oluwafeyiropo Daniels of a popular church allegedly r@ped her on two occasions.
The female pastor, who is also a student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, testified on Tuesday for the prosecution at the bishop’s trial as she was led in evidence by Lagos State counsel, Mr Babajide Boye.
The witness, who is a former assistant pastor of the church’s branch in Akungba, Akure, told the court presided over by Justice Ramon Oshodi that her first encounter with the bishop was on May 28, 2018, when he visited Akure for a programme.
The victim who was led in examination-in-chief by the Lagos State prosecution counsel, testified that subsequently, she became a member of the church and at some point when her pastor, Toyosi Bamishe, decided to hand over to Pastor Boluwatife Oladejo, she was made the Assistant Pastor.
She said that on June 21, 2020, Daniels called her to come to the sitting room for her to report of the church and then he revealed to her the plans he had for the church in the next five to ten years.
The victim said after that, she was listening to a message by a prominent Pentecostal pastor on television when he came back to the sitting room and commanded her to go naked.
According to her, the defendant increased the volume of the television, and he also took off his clothes and r@ped her for about 30 minutes till she began to bleed and sustained tears despite not being a virgin.
She recounted her ordeal, “He pinned me against a three-seater couch and r@ped 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 knows that I should shut up.
“When he was done, he ordered me to go wash up immediately. He collected my phone and said I should not tell anybody about it and that the day I tell anyone, I will run mad.
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I was very scared and the whole thing was like a drama to me, then I went back to the guest room and on the next day June 22, I got my phone and sent Pastor Oladejo a message on WhatsApp through a code and he figured that I had been violated.
“Bishop Daniels did not allow me to go out. If I want to go out, he will send the security man, it was then that I knew that he was a rapist. I remembered how my friend had told me that she was violated by Bishop and he tried to harm her.
“For my safety, I started behaving mad and at night he came to the room and said he wanted to have s£x with me, I refused and told him I had tears from the previous forceful violation, then he got very angry and left the room.
“On June 23, in the morning I was planning how to leave and when I came out of the room, he was tying a red towel and said I should even be happy that he r@ped me and that he told me he wanted to have s£x with me again and I rejected him.
“He said that plenty of people would have been happy that he had s£x with them, then 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, then he ordered me again to go take my bath and ordered me back to the room, and immediately, I sent a message to Pastor Oladejo that Bishop had r@ped me again.
“After I sent the message, Bishop came into the room and started begging me. He was crying and saying he didn’t know what came over him and that it has never happened before and it will not happen again.”
The witness testified that the defendant had a meeting in Ghana, and he later travelled for the meeting and sent her N5,000 to get drugs because the tears that she got from the forceful s£x had turned into boils.
The victim said she could not reveal what happened to her when she called at her sister’s house.
“I told Bishop that I was in severe pain and that I might need surgery as I could not urinate. He said he would come back from Ghana on June 30, with his wife and two children and take me to the hospital.
When he returned with his wife Awele and children, almost immediately the wife entered the house, she noticed the way I was walking and she asked what happened and Bishop Feyi Daniels told her that I had toilet infection and that he was going to take me to the hospital the next day.”
She explained that the defendant later took her to First City Hospital at Lekki where she met a doctor – Tina Clement – who was also a member of the Lekki Church.
The victim said before they got to the hospital, the defendant had warned her in the car that she should tell the doctor that she was r@ped by her boyfriend.
“He stayed there throughout the questioning by the doctor and the results were sent to him and he later got the prescribed drugs for me. Up till today, I don’t know what is the result of the test that was done,” she disclosed.
Justice Oshodi has adjourned the case till May 24 and 25 for the continuation of the trial.
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