Court jails cleric for raping minor in Ekiti
An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has sentenced Prophet Adeleye Akingbaso, a 47-year-old cleric, to life imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old girl.
The cleric was arraigned in September 2022 for rape and coercion.
The charge read: “The Prophet, sometime in July 2022, at Ado-Ekiti, did rape a 13-year-old girl. Also, in July 2021, Prophet Adeleye coerced the victim to engage in a sexual act to the detriment of her physical and psychological well-being.
“The offences are contrary to Section 31(2) of the Child’s Rights Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012 and Section 4 of the Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, No.18 of 2019,” the charge stated.
The victim said the prophet was a friend to her mother and has slept over in their house, adding that the man committed the act one night when her mother was on night duty.
She said: “He woke me up at midnight and said I bedwetted, which was strange to me. He brought out a bottle of shea butter and rubbed it on my vagina; that was all I knew. I later discovered I had been raped that night. He threatened me that he would curse me and I would die if I told anybody.’’
