Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of an Abuja High Court on Tuesday
handed down a seven-year jail term to a clergyman, Pastor Basil Princewill, for
raping a teenager.
Princewill, who is the founder of Mountain Mover Ministry
International in Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was
found guilty in two of the four-count charge preferred against him by the
Nigeria Police.
The charges border on rape, impersonation and attempt to
cause abortion and abetting miscarriage, involving a 14-year-old girl.
"l must consider
the fate of a young girl and the society", the trial judge said
while handing down the sentence
According to the judge,
"it is even worrisome when
the person involved is a man of God who we should look up to as next to God.
Those who serve in the Lord's vineyard are expected to be an example to the
society."
Sressing that it is necessary to send a strong signal that
such attitude as rape and others would not be tolerated, Justice Baba-Yusuf however expressed regret
that a person who called himself a man of God would be involved in such,
"shameful disgraceful and satanic act".
He said: "By this conduct, he deserved to be kept away from the public. He would
face the prison walls like a monastry so that when he comes out, he would have been born
again."
Justice Baba-Yusuf, said that the court was mindful of the
fact that Princewill was a first offender and accordingly sentenced him to seven
years for the offence of rape and five years for the offence of abettment which
will run concurrently.
Baba -Yusuf held that out of the four count, the defendant
is convicted on count one, which is rape and count three which is abettment to
cause abortion.
He said that the testimony of the three prosecution
witnesses, PW1, mother of the
victim, PW2, the victim herself and PW3,
the doctor where the victim was taken to all established a guilty verdict
against the defenfant.
" I believe the evidence of the PW2 (victim ) to be true and the PW1 (her mother
) told the story in the same way the victim told the court too.
"The evidence of the accused was inconsistent, and confusing also and the direct evidence
given by the victim to her mother narrated the ordeal the victim went through
in the hands of the accused," he held.
He said though the accused denied not raping the victim but
his evidence contradicted itself and therefore convicted on the allegation of
rape.
He also found the defendant guilty in the third count of abetment
to cause abortion.
However, Justice Baba-Yusuf discharged the defenfant in the
charges of impersonation and attempt to cause miscarriage.
According to the judge,the prosecution did not prove the
ingredients of the alleged offence.
The clergyman was alleged to have forcefully had sexual
intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, between July 27 and December 31, 2011 at
Mountain Mover Ministry International and his house at Nyanya, Abuja, without
her consent and impregnated her.
He was said to have given her drugs with a view to aborting
a pregnancy.
Princewill was also alleged to have, on or about January,
2012, attempted to cause miscarriage on the victim when he gave her drugs to
take and abort the pregnancy, which resulted to her bleeding.
The witness, Dr Felix Ogunbade of Fountainhead Medical Centre,
Mararaba, Nasarawa State, told the court in the course of hearing that “the
examination conducted on Favour as of the time she was brought to the clinic
revealed that she was given an abortion drug.”
The witness, who had earlier testified in the case as the
third prosecution witness, was recalled by the prosecution after the charge was
amended.
The case was filed by the police on June 4, 2012 with the
prosecution closing its case on December 9, 2016 after calling four witnesses
to prove its case, with the defence also closing its case on May 24, 2017
having testified for himself without calling any one.
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