Nduka Anyanwu, a 51-year-old pastor, was found guilty of defiling and impregnating two young sisters and was given a life sentence by an Ikeja Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Court on Tuesday.
After finding Anyanwu guilty of the crime, The Lagos State Government charged Anyanwu on April 17, 2022, with two charges of defilement.
According to reports, the crime was perpetrated in Arowojobe Street in the state’s Oshodi region between August 2019 and August 2020.
The offence is punishable under Section 137 of the Lagos State Criminal Code of 2015, the prosecution claims.
After the defendant was charged, he entered a not-guilty plea. On October 11, 2022, the trial started and ended.
While the defence only had the defendant testify, the prosecution had six witnesses.
During the trial, the first prosecution witness testified that though she is now 15 years old, she was 13 years old at the time incident happened.
She testified that the defendant was known to her as the pastor of their church and that he had been having sex with her and warned her not to tell anyone.
The victim claimed that despite the defendant’s assurances to the contrary, she eventually became pregnant and gave birth to a child for him.
The second prosecution witness, PW2, who is PW1’s older sister and was 17 at the time of the occurrence but is now 19 years old, corroborated the first witness’ claim that the defendant was their pastor.
She described how the defendant had sex with her parent’s permission, promised to transport her to a country with “greener pastures,” and she began going to see him.
While delivering judgment, the judge held that the prosecution was able to discharge the burden of proof placed on it, on the charge of defilement.
Justice Sholadoye held that the three ingredients of defilement, were that the child was underage, the defendant had sexual intercourse with the victim and the consent of the child was not sought.
She said,” I am convinced of the evidence led that the defendant is guilty as charged for the offence of defilement.
“The police shied away from their responsibility by not charging the father of the victims along with the defendant.
“The parents of these victims are highly irresponsible and reckless in their parenting. The negligence of their children has contributed to them now being grandparents of two additional mouths to feed. They should have been sanctioned and brought to justice.
“The parents of these two victims, who are biological sisters, acted irresponsibly by allowing their so-called pastor friend to deceive them that he will help them take their children abroad when the defendant cannot even help himself.
“Nduka Anyawu, you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment, in respect of count one and count two.
“The sentence is to run concurrently, his name should be registered in the Lagos State offenders’ register.”
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