The
Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 42-year-old cleric, Pastor Chidiebere
Ikpa, for allegedly raping his stepdaughter, Ngozi (pseudonym), in the Surulere
area of the state.
Ikpa,
who denied the allegation, told Punch
that it was a
neighbour, whom he identified only as Richard, that defiled the 14-year-old
girl, but he decided not to report the matter to the police because he (Ikpa)
had a forgiving character.
However,
Ngozi, a Senior Secondary class 2 pupil, who eventually reported the incident
to the police last Friday, January 15, insisted that she was raped by the
pastor on several occasions She added that whenever she told her mother about
it, she usually shouted her down, and refused to take any action on the matter.
Punch learnt
that Ikpa, who hails from the Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, was
arrested by policemen from the Isokoko division, while Ngozi was taken for
medical examination at the Mirabel Centre, Ikeja.
The
test reportedly confirmed that the girl’s private parts had been “tampered
with.”
. A
police source told
Punch that Ngozi reported that Ikpa had allegedly been sleeping
with her since she was 10 years old and was the one who deflowered her.
She
said, “The victim claimed that the suspect deflowered her when she was 10
years. He had allegedly been sexually molesting the girl since that time.
“The
victim’s mother is culpable because she knew about the abuses. The girl said it
was when her mother failed to take concrete steps that she came to the police.”
Speaking
with Punch, the pastor said he
flogged the girl last Thursday and she disappeared from the house, not knowing
she came to the police to lie against him.
He
said, “The girl started living with me when she was 12 or thereabout. That was
around 2012. It is not true that I raped her. I flogged her on Thursday for
being rude and she did not return home after school. We did not see her until
Friday. She had been with the police.
“The
girl has a boyfriend; his name is Richard. He is the manager of a hotel on
Rasak Balogun Street. If the medical result shows someone has been sleeping
with Ngozi, then it is Richard, not me.
“It is
a mystery to me that the girl is claiming that I slept with her. When we caught
Richard and confronted him sometime last year, he started begging. The mistake
I made was that I did not report to the police.
“My wife
got furious and said we must report the matter to the police, but the man
started begging, sending text messages to me. I forgave him. I am a pastor.
“I was
working under a church, but since I moved to this area, I have not pastored any
church.”
The
victim, Ngozi, told our correspondent that Ikpa was lying and he had slept with
her on several occasions.
She
said, “The first time that he would rape me was about five years ago. My mother
sent me to give food to him in his own house. I was then staying in my father’s
house. That was when he took advantage of me and raped me.
“The
man he mentioned is not my boyfriend. Richard was the man I reported to when I
told my mother about the rape and she did not believe me. Richard advised me to
leave everything to God.
“Sometimes,
when everyone was sleeping, he would come to the room where I was with my other
sisters and he would rape me. I would be hitting my sisters trying to wake
them, but they did not wake at such times.”
The
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the
pastor’s arrest.
She
said, “The pastor’s arrest is confirmed. He was transferred from FESTAC to the
Isokoko division for prosecution.”
No comments:
Post a Comment