Court Remands 32-Year-old Prophet For Raping 15-Year-old Girl

UYO                                

An Uyo High Court presided over Justice Bassey Nkanang has ordered the remand in prison custody of a 32-year prophet, Godson Nse Thompson for raping a 15-year-old girl (name withheld).   

 Thompson is said to have committed the crime in 2020 when the minor was brought to him for intercessory prayers.

 The victim, a native of Nsit Ubium Local Government Area, was giving her evidence as the second prosecution witness in the matter which is before Nkanang.

 She said she was living with her elder sister in Uyo, when her in-law took her to a Church along Information Drive, Uyo and after leaving to return at about 7pm, the pastor took her to his house, where she was raped all through the night.

 “When my in-law left the church, the accused person made a phone call to a tricyclist and the tricyclist rode in and the accused person asked me to enter the tricycle saying he was going to pray for two persons and that he will also pray for me. When we got there, he prayed for the first and second persons. Thereafter, the accused person and I trekked to the main road and he stopped a tricycle and we both entered it and at a certain point, the tricyclist stopped and the accused person said I should wait for him.

“He stepped down and entered one compound and he came out and beckoned on me to join him. He asked me to follow him and he took me to a room, locked the door and told me to undress. He raped me till I bled,” the minor told the Court. 

 She said the accused person gave her a bucket to urinate inside the house in order to prevent her from going outside.

 The victim also told the Court that the incident, which occurred Friday,  July 10, 2020, saw her using her sanitary pads for two weeks because of bleeding.

 The SS1 student of a government secondary school in Uyo, narrated that on the fateful day, the prophet told her that she should accompany her elsewhere to pray for somebody, which she did, only to end up in his house, where he brought black liquid substance in a plastic bottle and drank before taking turns to rape her.

 “The accused person dragged me to his bedroom and showed me female pants, pictures of women, calabash, native eggs, wooden cross, two live lizards, cowries, plastic dolls, snake skin, kolanuts and office pins,” she said.

 The victim said she was able to escape when the accused person forgot to lock the door of the house and ran to a church where she was rescued.

At the conclusion of the evidence of the victim, the trial judge, Nkanang, adjourned the matter to August 1, 2022 for continuation of trial and ordered the accused be remanded in Uyo Correctional Centre till the adjourned date.