In a landmark ruling, the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court delivered a decisive verdict on Friday, sentencing Feyiropo Daniels, the Bishop of I Reign Christian Ministry in Lagos, to life imprisonment for the despicable act of raping his 23-year-old assistant pastor.
Additionally, Daniels received a concurrent three-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old member of the church.
Presiding over the case, Justice Rahman Oshodi unequivocally pronounced that Daniels would spend the remainder of his life behind bars at the Kirikiri custodial facility.
In his scathing rebuke, Justice Oshodi condemned Daniels as a deceitful individual devoid of any semblance of truthfulness or moral rectitude.
While acknowledging the prosecution’s successful establishment of the charges, Justice Oshodi exercised leniency by acquitting Daniels of one count of rape involving another unnamed church member, citing elements of consent in the encounter.
Oshodi held that there was an element of consent from the church member.
The judge also discharged and acquitted Daniels on count four of the charge, which is attempted rape of a member of the church.
Daniels faced an amended four-count charge bordering on rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. Rape contravenes Section 260 (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The proceedings revealed the harrowing ordeal endured by the assistant pastor, who recounted the traumatic experience of being raped by Bishop Daniels during a prayer session at his residence in the Lekki area of Lagos.
Recounting the events of September 8, 2019, she detailed how circumstances led her to seek shelter at Daniels’ residence, only to fall victim to his heinous act.
In her testimony, she narrated how she confided in Daniels about her accommodation predicament, only to be callously exploited and violated under the guise of religious fellowship.
“On September 8, 2019, I told her (the assistant pastor) that I was going to Lagos for the laying of hands but the programme started late and there was nowhere to sleep because I had no one I could stay within Lagos. She told me to call and tell Feyi that I had no one to stay with for the night, and I did.
“He said there was no problem, and this made me follow him to his house with some other members, including Bro Israel and his wife, but they later left the house that same day,” she said.
Ada Peter
