A 16-year-old secondary school student, Precious Okafor, has narrated her horrifying ordeal in the hands of a pastor in Anambra State, who allegedly raped her multiple times under the pretext of conducting a deliverance session.
The teenager shared her experience in an interview with The PUNCH after she was rescued by operatives of the Anambra State Special Anti-Touting Squad Agency in Onitsha.
According to Precious, her aunt took her to the pastor’s house at night after the pastor claimed she was possessed and needed spiritual deliverance.
“My aunt said her pastor told her I was possessed and needed deliverance. She brought me to his house at night and left me with him,” she said.
She claimed the pastor soon began making sexual advances towards her.
“While I was asleep, the pastor came into the room and started touching me, but I pushed his hands away. After several attempts, he left. Later, I overheard his wife asking him where he had been, and he lied that he was ‘checking on the children’,” she recounted.
The following day, the pastor took her to his church in Amichi for what he described as a “special deliverance.”
“While the deliverance was going on at the altar, he attempted to force himself on me, but I resisted,” she said.
Precious alleged that for several days, the pastor starved her, making her extremely weak. He then overpowered her and raped her repeatedly on the church altar during the so-called deliverance sessions.
She added that the pastor also had forceful sexual intercourse with her at his poultry farm in Igboukwu, a neighbouring town in Aguata LGA.
The suspect, simply identified as Evangelist Ezani, reportedly admitted to the act but blamed it on the devil.
“It is the devil’s handiwork. I didn’t know what came over me,” he said.
“I was arrested on my farm. The security operatives took me to their office in Onitsha the same day and later transferred me to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Awka.
“I appeal to the security operatives to temper justice with mercy. It is not entirely my fault, as the girl was brought to me. I also promised to cover her medical bills if I am released,” the pastor stated.
The case is currently being investigated by the police.
