Court arrests Catholic priest for allegedly raping and impregnating teenager in Anambra
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The Child, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court sitting at the Chief Magistrate’s court in Awka, Anambra State, has detained a Catholic priest, Rev. Nwaigwe Stephen, for allegedly raping and impregnating a teenage girl.
The magistrate ordered the prosecutor to transmit the original case to the office of the Anambra State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Daily Trust reported on Sunday, November 26, 2023.
The priest was also accused of forcibly taking the pregnant minor to Benin City, Edo State, where she gave birth to her baby, but police investigation revealed that the whereabouts of the said baby are still unknown.
The crime of having sexual intercourse with a minor is punishable under section 34(2) of the Anambra State Child Rights Act, 2004.
Nwaigwe was among the priests expelled by a popular Faith-Based Catholic Religious Congregation in Orlu, Imo State, known as the Congregation of Two Hearts of Love” (Ugwu Nso) in 2018, for alleged misconduct hostile to the image of the order.
The priest was said to have met the teenager at St. Albert’s Greater Catholic Church Parish, Obosi, Anambra State, where he was invited to a church program.
The victim, while answering questions in court during the remand process on Monday, November 20, 2023, said the priest took her from her parents to live with him when she was 14, promising to sponsor her education, while she also served as his cook. .
She claimed that shortly after moving into the priest’s house, he allegedly began sexually forcing himself on her, saying he continued the act until she became pregnant at age 17.
The minor further stated that when she informed the priest about her pregnancy, the priest took her from Ihiala Anambra State, where they lived, to somewhere in Benin City, Edo, to the house of a man and a woman who the priest introduced him as his brother and his brother’s wife.
“But when I gave birth to my baby at the home of a native midwife in Benin City, I was told that the baby had died and when I made efforts to have them show me the dead baby, they said that the baby had been buried,” he said. she. she said.
When the court asked if she had ever been gang-raped, the minor noted: “While we were going to Benin City, my father told me to say that I was gang-raped. But I have never been raped before, except the ones he (father) did to me in his house”,
Furthermore, during the pre-trial detention process, the Police Prosecutor informed the court that there was probable cause to order the priest’s pre-trial detention; witnesses were required to appear before the High Court to give evidence whenever the case was mentioned.
However, the defense counsel requested bail for the defendant, urging the court to exercise its bail discretion in favor of the defendant, citing Sections 13(3), 71(3), 72 and 73 of the Administration of Justice Act Criminal Law (ACJL) of Anambra State, 2022, as well as Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
He also prayed that the court would grant bail to the priest on the most liberal terms; assuring the court that Nwaigwe would never jump bail if granted.
But the police prosecutor asked the court to refuse bail to the cleric, stating that the case before the court was a crime against a minor who was allegedly under the spiritual guardianship of the accused.
While ruling on the bail application, the presiding Chief Magistrate, Genevieve Osakwe, stated that the case before the court was a crime punishable by life imprisonment, lamenting that the crime of rape against minors was becoming rampant in society.
She warned that the court would not sit idly by and watch the decay of society, regardless of which ox was gored.
The court presented numerous cases of similar crimes that had come before it in the past, specifically mentioning a case involving a 75-year-old man who also allegedly raped a minor and was therefore detained.
She therefore adjourned the case to December 6, 2023.
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Source: www.lindaikejisblog.com