A cleric, Israel Adebayo in Ogun State has been arrested by the police for allegedly defiling a 14-year-old chorister of his church at Agbado, in the Ifo Local Government Area of the state.
According to The PUNCH, the arrested cleric is the General Overseer of The Beloved Chapel.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, adding that Adebayo was arrested following a complaint lodged by the mother of the victim.
The PPRO said the mother noted that her daughter was a choir member in the church, adding that the pastor lured her into his room and allegedly had carnal knowledge of her against her will.
He said “Upon the report, the DPO Agbado Division detailed his detectives to the scene where the pastor was promptly arrested. On interrogation, the pastor, who admitted defiling the victim, pleaded for forgiveness.
“According to him, his family and that of the victim are so close, but he didn’t know how and why such a thing happened to him.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect would have been arrested long ago, but the mother of the victim frustrated the move because she doesn’t want to offend her pastor.
“But when the victim was continuously bleeding from her private parts since the incident which happened in October 2021, she was left with no other option than to inform the police. The victim claimed that the pastor was the first person to sleep with her. She is currently recuperating in a hospital.”
Oyeyemi said the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.