An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic
Violence court on Friday sentenced 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 and held that the cleric should spend the rest
of his life at the Kirikiri custodial facility in Lagos.
Oshodi held
that the prosecution established the ingredients of the two offences against
him by a 19-year-old church member and 23-year-old assistant.
According to
him, Daniels is a liar and does not have any regard for truth.
Report states that 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 counseled one of the women, given the amount of N100,000
to another for hospital treatment, paid school fees for a third, and related
with 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.
“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.
However,
Daniels denied this allegation, saying, “I am not a powerful man; I am a
pastor. I do not use power to counsel people; I am not a manipulator.”
The
Prosecutor further grilled the defendant, “You visited your Akungba fellowship
centre, and when she saw you, she hissed. Were you not surprised as a pastor?
“No. She was
disgruntled because I couldn’t help her financially.”
The defendant also denied tampering
with the WhatsApp messages between him and one of his alleged victims.
During the
cross-examination, the prosecutor also sought to tender four statements
purportedly written by the defendant whilst in police custody at various
intervals last year.
“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, that evidence even though obtained improperly is still
admissible and we urge the court to admit same,” Boye said.
The defence
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 defence is hereby overruled.”