By John Obi
A pastor with the Deeper Life Bible Church,Adetunji Obatayo 55, has been remanded to prison custody by the Ondo Magistrates’ Family Court sitting in Akure for
for defiling a 14- year old girl living with him and procuring abortion for her three times.
The teenager whose name was not disclosed was handed to the Pastor who doubles as Principal of her school by the parents of the girl in 2020, after he assured the parents of sponsoring the girl’s education.
Obatayo, was, however, arrested after the 14-year-old victim informed her parents that the man had been abusing her sexually.
He was subsequently arrested and arraigned before the Akure Magistrates’ Family Court, on three counts of defilement, unlawfully prescribing drugs to procure abortion thereby killing an unborn child.
The pleas of the defendant were, however, not taken by the magistrate.
The offences contravened Sections 218, 230, and 328 of the Criminal Laws of Ondo State, 2006.
Narrating her ordeal before the court, the victim disclosed that Pastor Obatayo has been having intercourse with her since she started staying with him four years ago.
“Four years ago, my parents released me to live with a pastor due to his desire to train me. On my first day in his house, he forcefully had sexual intercourse with me and told me not to tell anyone about it.
“He had impregnated me thrice and he gave me N5,000 to buy some contraceptive drugs to abort the pregnancy after many preventive drugs.
”But during the third pregnancy, he refused to give me money for the drug, and I stole his money to buy the pills.
” Pastor later accused me of stealing his money for my boyfriend which led to the arrest of a boy in our school and I informed my parents about his ordeal.”
Subsequently, the Presiding Magistrate, B.A. Alphonso, ordered the defendant to be remanded to the Olokuta Correctional Centre and directed the case file sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.
He ordered the victim taken in for rehabilitation and adjourned the case to August 29, 2024, for mention.
