The sixty-one-year-old pastor stated in his testimony on Wednesday before the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court that his renter, Godwin Emmanuel, had violated and pregnant his daughter, who is sixteen years old.
The Lagos State government filed a charge of defilement against Emmanuel, to which he entered a not guilty plea.
The prosecution told the court that between April and July of 2021, Emmanuel allegedly violated the pastor’s daughter in the Badagry neighbourhood of Ajangbadi.
Read Also: Travellers in Zamfara are ambushed by bandits, who kill several and capture others
According to the prosecution, the offence was against Lagos State’s criminal laws.
State attorney Abimbola Abolade invited the pastor to testify in court after the pastor entered a not guilty plea.
The witness identified Emmanuel, his tenant, to the court, saying he had met him through a real estate agent.
According to him, he had known Emmanuel for three or four years. His daughter had named the defendant as the cause of her pregnancy since he had been having affairs with her.
“When my daughter was sixteen years old, Godwin violated her and got her pregnant.
“My daughter verified that he had been having long-term sexual relations with her when I reported the situation to the Badagry Area K Police Station.
“My daughter carried the pregnancy to term and gave birth to a girl,” he declared.
During the pastor’s cross-examination by defence attorney Victor Edet, he admitted to the court that he was unable to recall the exact day he reported the case to the police.
But when the police did not follow up on his complaint, he said that he later reported the situation to the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency and to a medical facility.
He expressed his conviction that the defendant was the one who got his daughter pregnant after Emmanuel’s wife, a nurse, gave her medication to end the pregnancy.
In court, the pastor also said that his daughter informed him that the condom in use had broken during one of the sex romps.
However, Mr. Emmanuel advised her to transfer accountability to a third party that he presented to her, the pastor continued.
The case’s next hearing was postponed until December 11 by Presiding Justice Abiola Soladoye.
