A 14-year-old girl yesterday told a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that Pastor Emmanuel Matthew of the Winners Chapel defiled her when she was seven years old in 2012.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the defendant is also the proprietor of Emmabeth Academy, Mpape, Abuja, where the victim attended in 2012.
The girl said this while testifying as the fifth prosecution witness.
She added that Mathew forcibly inserted his finger in her private part and also had carnal knowledge of her schoolmate, who was also a minor.
The victim also alleged that the defendant sexually assaulted her elder sister who was nine years old then.
The police in 2012 charged Matthew to court on a six-count charge bordering on inducement and rape, which ran contrary to Sections 283 and 285 of the Penal Code. The prosecution counsel, Mr. Ejike Orji, averred that the victim had attended Emmabeth Academy, Mpape, ran by the defendant. Orji alleged that Mathew took advantage of his closeness with the victim, her lost sister and a school mate who were all minors to have sex with them.
He said: “Sometimes in March 20, 2012 at Emmabeth Academy, Mpape, Abuja, Matthew induced and raped the victim who was seven years, her elder sister and another pupil of the school.”
In her evidence in chief, the victim recalled the name of the school to be “Emmabeth Academy Nursery/ Primary School, Mpape, Abuja’’. She said: “I was in school and Pastor Emmanuel took me inside his office and put his fingers into my private part several times. “He did that to me and my elder sister and the other girl. He later gave my sister N10.”
When interrogated further by the prosecutor, she said the defendant went ahead to remove his trousers and inserted his penis into the private part of the other girl. She said she narrated the incident to her mother, who immediately reported the matter to her pastor. According to her, the mother and her pastor only warned the defendant of the repercussion of his actions. The victim said that the defendant invited policemen three days after the incident to arrest the mother and her pastor, adding that the police became abreast of the matter through her mother’s statement.
She said the police immediately took over the matter by taking the three of them (children) to the hospital for examinations. When asked to state the colour of the underwear the defendant wore during the alleged incident, the victim said she could not remember because the incident happened seven years ago. The witness also said she could not remember the name of the hospital they were taken to for examination, adding that she remembered that a doctor examined them. Justice Hussein Baba- Yusuf then adjourned the matter till May 30 for continuation.