KINGSLEY EBERE
The General Overseer of a church, Pastor Samuel Onyeagoziri, of Champions of the Truth Church, also known as Champions Cathedral, has been arrested and charged for allegedly engaging a sickle cell patient in sex for 5 years under the guise of deliverance prayers in Ebonyi State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the Magistrate Court in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, has ordered the remand of Pastor Onyeagoziri in custody at the correctional center for repeatedly sleeping with the victim for those years without curing her of the sickle cell anaemia through the sex deliverance prayers.
According to the Police, the indicted Pastor lured the victim and deceived her that he will deliver her of the anaemia issue. But after several years of sex, she discovered that he had deceived her into having sex with him as a way of helping her to get healing from her condition.
The matter was reported to the Police and Pastor Onyeagoziri was arrested before he was arraigned before the Court on four-count charge of rape, threats to life, fraud, and circulation of pornographic materials.
The Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Antonia Uche-Anya, personally brought the cleric to the court.
The prosecutor told the court that Pastor Onyeagoziri allegedly raped the female victim in 2021 at Mile 50 Layout, Abakaliki, by obtaining sex without the consent of the victim through threats, false and fraudulent representations.
He argued that the defendant therefore, committed an offence punishable under Section 358 of the Criminal Code, Cap 33 Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
The Police prosecutor also told the court that Pastor Onyeagoziri allegedly threatened the victim’s life with a gun, which he said was in violation of Section 12(1) (a) (b) of the Ebonyi State Internal Security Enforcement and Related Matters Law, 2009.
The cleric, according to the Police, further allegedly sent pornographic messages via computer systems to the victim, contrary to Section 24(2)(i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015, as amended in 2024.
The prosecutor also accused the defendant of emotionally and psychologically abusing the victim by circulating her nude photographs on social media, contrary to Section 20(1) of the Ebonyi State Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, 2018, as amended in 2024.
After the charges were read to him, the Presiding Magistrate, Nkechi Chima, ordered the remand of the defendant and stressed that the offences were outside the jurisdiction of the Magistrate Court.
Hence, she directed that the original case file, evidence, and all related documents to be transferred to the Department of Public Prosecution for further legal action.
The victim had told the Police that the cleric had been sleeping with her since 2021 while she was still a secondary school student.
She narrated that she was introduced to the cleric when she sought help for her sickle cell condition which she lamented had led to the death of three of her siblings.
She said that her parents were desperate to save her from a similar fate when they were introduced to the cleric, apparently for “spiritual solution”.
According to her, the cleric promised healing but insisted that the only “remedy” was for her to sleep with him for seven consecutive days.
The victim, then a virgin in Senior Secondary School 3, said she reluctantly agreed out of fear for her life and in the hope for healing.
She further stated that she wanted to leave the cleric’s house after her condition did not change but the cleric resisted her, threatening her with a gun.
According to her, the cleric had refused to delete her nude photographs and video clips which he took after forcing her to pose for the recording.The photographs and video clips later leaked and went viral on social media thereafter.