A “man of God and prophet”, who blamed the devil for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter in Akwa-Ibom State, has been sent to prison for 21 years.
Justice Okon Okon of the State High Court while delivering judgment, described as despicable and reprehensible the conduct of the prophet, who serves at the Restoration Bible Church in Uyo, the state capital.
Okon also affirmed that his 21 years sentence was with effect from when the convict was taken into custody in the custodial centre in Uyo.
The judge held that the parameters established for the proof of rape have all been satisfied by the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, including the victim and the medical doctor who examined her, fortified by the confessional statement voluntarily made by the accused person himself.
“It is most despicable and depressing, that the supposed man of God overpowered and defiled an innocent child of about ten years who is incidentally, his own stepdaughter.
“The defendant lacks any claim of moral rectitude having thrown overboard the limits of his liberties by shamelessly stripping and polluting the dignity, chastity and sanctity of his stepdaughter’s body and totally disregarding her underage status”, Okon said.
It was reported that the convict committed the crime on August 9, 2019, when the mother of the girl brought her and her younger sister to spend holidays with their 37-year-old stepfather, who resides at Itiam street in Uyo.
Pleading for leniency, the randy stepfather said he was pushed into the crime by demons.
He claimed that the demons made him to forcefully have a carnal knowledge of the minor.
By the time he serves out his jail term, the demonic man of God would have turned 57 years.
