The founder of iReign Christian Ministry, Feyi Daniels, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday by the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence court for the crime of raping a church member.
In the trial, Judge Rahman Oshodi declared the Lagos-based cleric, guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a female worshipper
Earlier reports conveyed that the Bishop, testifying in his defense, stated that he believed three out of the four women accusing him of sexual assault had conspired to turn against him.
During cross-examination, Babajide Boye, the lead counsel for the prosecution, aimed to establish that Bishop Daniels had a ‘personal relationship’ with the four women
Boye asserted that the defendant counseled one woman, provided N100,000 for hospital treatment to another, covered school fees for a third, and interacted with a fourth as a leader in the campus fellowship affiliated with his ministry at Akungba-Akobo in Ondo State.
But the Bishop denied giving money to one of the women for treatment.
He said, “I believe all three ladies turned against me, but not (name withheld) because she later apologized to me.”
When asked about the sexual nature of the accusations from the women, the defendant stated he didn’t know.
Boye, the prosecutor, also alleged that the defendant used his position as a pastor to manipulate individuals seeking counseling
“You are a man of God. Are you not? A powerful man of God. You get trained to counsel, and you use wisdom and the leading of the spirit to manipulate,” he asked.
However, Daniels denied this allegation, saying, “I am not a powerful man; I am a pastor. I do not use power to counsel people; I am not a manipulator.”
The prosecutor continued to question the defendant, stating, “You visited your Akungba fellowship centre, and when she (one of the alleged victims) saw you, she hissed. Were you not surprised as a pastor?
“No. She was disgruntled because I couldn’t help her financially”
The defendant denied allegations of tampering with the WhatsApp messages involving one of his accusers.
In the course of cross-examination, the prosecutor also attempted to introduce four statements, purportedly authored by the defendant during various periods of his police custody last year
“There are contradictions between the defendant’s testimony and the contents of the documents. We seek to use them to impeach his testimony. We rely on section 232 of the Evidence Act, that evidence even though obtained improperly is still admissible and we urge the court to admit same,” Boye said.
Adebayo Adegbite, the defense counsel, objected to the admissibility of the statements, contending that they were not made by the defendant and that the Bishop signed them under duress.
“The statements are a mixture of confession and denial. We leave it to the court to determine whether they amount to a confession. Right from the start of this trial, the defendant has denied the charges, that’s his plea. The documents weren’t made voluntarily. Even if there were contradictions, he wasn’t the maker of the documents, they were written by the police,” Adegbite stated
In his ruling, Justice Rahman Oshodi admitted the documents .The judge said, “By section 9(3) and (4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (2021), the presence of a video testimony of the suspect is desirable but not compulsory. I will admit the documents and later consider the evidential value to place on them. The objection of the defence is hereby overruled.”
Kanyi Daily recalls that the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) applauds the life imprisonment sentence handed to Ademola Oladimeji for sexually assaulting his three children.
