An Ikeja Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence court sentenced the founder of iReign Christian Ministry, Feyi Daniels, to life imprisonment for “raping a church member.”.
The trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, found the Lagos-based cleric guilty of rape and sexual assault of a female worshipper.
The bishop, who took to the witness box in his own defense, testified that he believed three out of the four women who accused him of sexually assaulting them conspired to turn against him.
While fielding questions under cross-examination, the prosecution’s lead counsel, Babajide Boye, sought to establish that the defendant, Bishop Daniels, had a ‘personal relationship’ with the four women.
Boye alleged that the defendant had counseled one of the women, given the amount of N100,000 to another for hospital treatment, paid school fees for a third, and related to a fourth as a leader in the campus fellowship affiliated with his ministry at Akungba-Akobo in Ondo State.
But the bishop denied giving money to one of the women for treatment. He said, “I believe all three ladies turned against me, but not (name withheld) because she later apologized to me.”
When asked why the accusations from the ladies were all sexual in nature, the defendant said he didn’t know.
Boye also accused the defendant of using his position as a pastor to manipulate people who come to him for counseling.
“You are a man of God. Are you not? A powerful man of God. You get trained to counsel, and you use wisdom and the leading of the spirit to manipulate,” he asked.
“There are contradictions between the defendant’s testimony and the contents of the documents. We seek to use them to impeach his testimony. We rely on Section 232 of the Evidence Act, which states that evidence obtained improperly is still admissible, and we urge the court to admit the same,” Boye said.
The defense counsel, Adebayo Adegbite, raised objections to the admissibility of the statements. He argued that the statements were not made by the defendant and that the bishop signed them under duress.
“The statements are a mixture of confession and denial. We leave it to the court to determine whether they amount to a confession. Right from the start of this trial, the defendant has denied the charges; that’s his plea. The documents weren’t made voluntarily. Even if there were contradictions, he wasn’t the maker of the documents; they were written by the police,” Adegbite stated.
Meanwhile, in his ruling, Justice Rahman Oshodi admitted the documents. The judge said, “By Section 9(3) and (4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (2021), the presence of a video testimony of the suspect is desirable but not compulsory. I will admit the documents and later consider the evidential value to place on them. The objection of the defense is hereby overruled.”
Punch
