A Lagos-based Pastor and founder of iReign Christian Ministry, Feyi Daniels, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence court on Friday for “raping a church member”.
According to the trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, said Daniels was found guilty of the charges and held that the cleric should spend the rest of his life at the Kirikiri custodial facility in Lagos.
The judge stated that the prosecution established the ingredients of the two offences against the cleric by a 19-year-old church member and a 23-year-old pastor assistant, describing him as a liar and does not have any regard for truth.
The Bishop, who took to the witness box in his own defence, 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 counselled 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 apologised 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 persons who come to him for counseling.
(Punch)
