The rapist pastor and the victim
A 62-year-old pastor and founder of Dayspring Family Chapel in the Egbeda area of Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, identified as Pastor Isaiah Ojo, has been arrested after he allegedly took the 7-year-old daughter of his friend and fellow pastor, Bidemi, laid her on the altar of his church and had carnal knowledge of her.
According to The Tribune, as at Friday, May 13, the little girl had yet to stop bleeding from the incident which occurred since Monday, May 9, 2016, as the girl’s vagina was reportedly badly torn by forced penetration that she had been bleeding since the incident..
The randy pastor who was arrested on Thursday, May 12 by Egbeda Division of the Oyo State Police Command after initial disappearance, is yet to reveal his motive for committing the act on a church altar.
Narrating her experience in the hands of the pastor, Bidemi said: "Daddy Dayspring is my father’s friend. On Monday, my younger brother and I went to greet him. While my brother was playing outside, Daddy Dayspring asked me to lay on the rug.
"He laid beside me, removed my underpants and then removed his trousers. He first put his fingers in my private part. He later put his p*nis in my v*gina and I cried. He removed it and blood started coming out. He warned me against telling anyone, saying that I would die if I did. It was when I went outside to urinate that I noticed that blood was coming out of my private part," the victim said.
While narrating how he discovered his daughter’s condition, the victim’s 50-year-old father, who would simply be identified as Pastor T, stated: "I was not aware of what happened on that Monday because I attended a revival held by Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Egbeda. On Tuesday evening, I overheard her elder brother saying: 'tell Mummy', but I did not pay attention because I thought it was the usual children’s pranks.
"It was my wife who told me to check my daughter’s private part and when I did, I noticed that her pants were stained with blood. Thinking that something injured her, I quickly rushed her to the healthcentre; but was surprised when I saw that the blood was coming from her private part when the nurses checked her. She was treated and we returned home.
"The following day, Wednesday, we noticed that she was still bleeding so we took her back to the health centre. A senior nurse started interrogating her and it was there she revealed that it was my pastor friend who raped her. She said further that the suspect warned her against telling anyone or else she would die. We are both members of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Egbeda branch, and I have informed the leadership."
A correspondent sought the suspect’s explanantion of his side of the story, the pastor, who obviously knew that his deed was shameful, stammered and stumbled over words in his attempt to explain what he did to the minor. Several times, he swallowed hard and muttered 'Oh! God' as he talked.
According to Pastor Ojo, "the little girl and her younger brother used to come to me to play. Her father is a close friend of mine. On Monday May 9, I was in my church premises when she came with her brother. The girl went to lay on the rug on the altar and told her brother that her private part was itching, asking him to come and lay on her. They used to play on the rug before then.
"I went near them to ask what was wrong with her. I had to use my hand to help her scratch her private part. After that, the girl said: 'Daddy Dayspring, come and lay on me also. When I moved nearer, I could not do anything with her; I did not insert my penis in her vagina.
"What happened next was that I brought my p*nis out but I could not penetrate her because her vagina was tight. My intention was to touch her, not to damage her. When I saw that her vagina was very tight, I withdrew my p*nis and left. There was no blood at that time. I don’t know how blood came out of her," the pastor said.
He however denied having sex with the girl for ritual purpose, saying she was young enough to be his granddaughter.