Police operatives in Ogun State have arrested a pastor and his wife over the alleged rape of a 16-year-old chorister of their church.
Pastor Peter Taiwo of Christ Apostolic Bible Church, Alaja Oke, Saje in Abeokuta, the state capital, was arrested with his wife, Elizabeth.
The state police command said the couple were arrested on Friday after a complaint was filed at Adatan divisional police headquarters by the rape victim, whose identity was not disclosed to protect her.
The command also said the couple have confessed to the crime.
The state police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Sunday said according to the minor, Elizabeth told her to go and see the pastor, saying the cleric wanted her to run an errand for him.
But according to her, the moment she went into the room where Taiwo was waiting for her, Elizabeth locked the door from outside.
The victim told the police that Taiwo subsequently overpowered and raped her.
She was said to have also told the police that the pastor’s wife later came into the room after her husband was done raping her.
She narrated to the police that she “met her crying and she told her to stop crying as she is now a woman, she then warned her never to tell anybody or else she will die” mysteriously.
Oyeyemi said, “On interrogation, the couple confessed to the crime but blamed the devil for it. They also pleaded for forgiveness from the victim.”
The victim has been taken to the hospital by the police for medical treatment, Oyeyemi also noted.
Oyeyemi said the state police commissioner, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the state’s Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) for further investigation.
