A 23-year-old former assistant pastor has told the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, Lagos State how one Bishop Oluwafeyiropo Daniels allegedly raped her twice.
The female pastor testified on Tuesday for the prosecution at the bishop’s trial. She was led in evidence by Lagos State counsel, Mr. Babajide Boye.
According to the information scooped from Channels Television, the witness, who is a former assistant pastor of the church’s branch in Akungba, Akure, explained to the court presided over by Justice Ramon Oshodi that her first encounter with the bishop was on May 28, 2018, when he visited Akure for a programme.
The victim, who was led in examination in chief by the Lagos State prosecution counsel, Mr. Babajide Boye, testified that subsequently, she became a member of the church and at some point when her pastor, Toyosi Bamishe, needed to hand over to Pastor Boluwatife Oladejo, she was made the Assistant Pastor.
She added that on June 21, 2020, the defendant ordered her to come to the sitting room for her report of the church, and then he showed her the plans he had for the church in the next five to 10 years.
The victim said after that she was listening to a message by a prominent Pentecostal pastor on television when he came back to the sitting room and ordered her to take off her clothes.
According to her, the defendant increased the volume of the television, and he also went naked and raped her for about 30 minutes until she started bleeding and sustained tears despite not being a virgin.
“He pinned me against a three-seater couch and raped me. He was bigger than me, and I was bleeding from my private part.
“I was begging him, but he didn’t listen. I told him I was bleeding, he said he knows that I should shut up.
“When he was done, he ordered me to go wash up immediately. He collected my phone and said I should not tell anybody about it and that the day I told anyone, I will run mad.
“I was very scared and the whole thing was like a drama to me, then I went back to the guest room and on the next day, June 22, I got my phone and sent Pastor Oladejo a message on WhatsApp through a code, and he figured that I had been violated.
“Bishop Daniels did not allow me to go out. If I wanted to go out, he will send the security man, it was then that I knew that he was a rapist. I remembered how my friend had told me that she was violated by Bishop, and he tried to harm her.
“For my safety, I started behaving mad and at night he came to the room and said he wanted to have sex with me, I refused and told him I had tears from the previous forceful violation, then he got very angry and left the room.
“On June 23, in the morning I was planning how to leave and when I came out of the room, he was tying a red towel and said I should even be happy that he raped me and that he told me he wanted to have sex with me again, and I rejected him.
“He said that plenty of people would have been happy that he had sex with them, then he took off my clothes and raped me again. He told me that I would die if I told anyone.
“I bled the second time, then he ordered me again to go take my bath and ordered me back to the room, and immediately, I sent a message to Pastor Oladejo that Bishop had raped me again.
“After I sent the message, Bishop came into the room and started begging me. He was crying and saying he didn’t know what came over him and that it had never happened before, and it will not happen again,” she narrated.
She also testified that the defendant had a meeting in Ghana, and he later travelled to the meeting and sent her N5,000 to get drugs because the tears that she got from the forceful sex had turned into boils.
She said when she visited her sister’s house, she couldn’t tell her what had happened.
“I told Bishop that I was in severe pain and that I might need surgery as I could not urinate. He said he would come back from Ghana on June 30, with his wife and two children, and take me to the hospital.
“When he returned with his wife Awele and children, almost immediately the wife entered the house, she noticed the way I was walking, and she asked what happened and Bishop Feyi Daniels told her that I had toilet infection and that he was going to take me to the hospital the next day”.
She explained that the defendant later took her to First City Hospital at Lekki where she met a doctor – Tina Clement – who was also a member of the Lekki Church.
The victim said before they got to the hospital, the defendant had warned her in the car that she should tell the doctor that she was raped by her boyfriend.
“He stayed there throughout the questioning by the doctor and the results were sent to him, and he later got the prescribed drugs for me. Up until today, I don’t know what is the result of the test that was done,” she continued.
The court has adjourned until May 24 and 25 for the continuation of the trial.
