Metro
Pastor who defiled 10-yr-old girl remanded in prison
A pastor, Okpara Apollos, has been remanded in a correctional Centre by an Ebonyi State Magistrate Court sitting in Abakaliki, the state capital, for defiling a 10-year-old girl.
According to reports, Apollos was said to have committed the crime after a house fellowship that held in his house on Sunday, March 8, 2020.
It was gathered that after the fellowship, the suspect sent the little girl on an errand and when she came back with the items he asked her to buy, he locked her up and allegedly had carnal knowledge of her.
The victim’s mother was said to have got to know about her daughter’s ordeal when the girl got home that night and started crying and on closer examination, she discovered that blood was gushing out from her private parts.
During Apollos arraignment on a one count charge of unlawful sexual intercourse, the police prosecutor, ASP Mathias Eze, told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 34 (2) of the Ebonyi State Child Right Law and Related Matters, 2010.
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The charge read: “That you, Okpara Apollos, on March 8, 2020, at Mgbabor Achara village, Abakaliki, in the Abakaliki Magisterial District, did have unlawful sexual intercourse with the victim (name withheld), aged 10, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 34 (2) of Ebonyi State Child Right Law and Related Matters, 2010.”
Counsel to the accused, Mr J. Onua, applied to the court that his client be admitted to bail because no human was above sin.
ASP Eze however opposed the application, contending that the offence was beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
The presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs Nnenna Onuoha, maintained that the court lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter and stressed that the evidence of commission of the offence was there for everybody to see.
Onuoha directed that the suspect be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Abakaliki, while the case file should be transferred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for necessary legal action.
She adjourned the matter till April 3, 2020, for the report of compliance.
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