“My wife refuses to have sex with me,” says priest accused of raping seven-year-old domestic helper

A 65-year-old pastor is said to have raped his seven-year-old domestic worker in Anambra state in southeastern Nigeria.

The suspect, Francis Ogwu, is a native of Imo State but resides in Awka, Anambra State, Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, a media adviser to the state Commissioner for Women and Social Affairs, Ify Obinabo, said on Thursday.

arrest

Mrs Ikeanyionwu said Mr Ogwu, a pastor and general overseer of Jesus House of Joy Church in Awka, was arrested for the alleged crime.

The media spokesperson said the suspect was arrested because some residents in the neighborhood suspected he had raped the girl.

She said the suspect lives in Awka with his wife and children and domestic help.

The statement did not say when the suspect allegedly raped the survivor.

“My wife is depriving me of sex.”

A Video clipshowing the suspect and the survivor being interrogated was uploaded to Facebook on Thursday.

In the clip, Mr Ogwu denied raping the survivor.

“I only fingered her once,” he claimed.

When asked why he did not go to his wife instead, he replied, “The problem with my wife is that every time I asked her, she told me that she was fasting or keeping vigil.”

Mr. Ogwu also claimed that the devil must have driven him to this act since the survivor did not yet have breasts that could possibly attract him.

“I have been preaching the gospel since 1991,” he claimed, asking for forgiveness.

The suspect’s wife was asked to respond to her husband’s claim that she frequently denied him sex, but she said she could not answer the question.

She said she did not know that her husband had raped the survivor.

How he raped me – Survivor

Ms Ikeanyionwu said the survivor told the commissioner how the suspect allegedly raped her.

According to the statement, the survivor said the suspect allegedly raped her three times and then gave her between 500 and 1,000 naira.

She said the suspect’s wife later accused her of trying to steal the man from her.

She added that she was forced to leave the house after being frequently beaten by one of the suspect’s daughters.

The survivor’s mother speaks

Destiny Nwabueze, the survivor’s mother, said she allowed her daughter to live with Mr Ogwu’s family because of the friendship between the two families.

However, Ms Nwabueze said she was shocked when she learned from her daughter that the suspect had raped her.

She said the suspect denied the allegations when confronted, which prompted her to involve people from the neighborhood in the alert.

Meanwhile, the suspect’s family later arrived at the commissioner’s office and asked for forgiveness of the suspect.

However, the commissioner informed them that the case had been handed over to the police.

“The case will go to court,” she said.

“Don’t deprive your husbands of sex”

Reacting, the State Commissioner for Women and Social Affairs, Mrs Obinabo, vowed to ensure justice is done for the survivor.

The Commissioner advised married women not to deprive their husbands of too much sexual contact, stressing that this could lead the husband to “bad behaviour”.

She also urged women to protect their daughters at all costs, pointing out that rape is no longer excusable in Anambra State.

Banned in Nigeria

Nigeria passed a Violence Against Persons (Prohibition of Violence Against Persons) Act in 2015, which banned all forms of violence against women and girls, including rape, female genital mutilation and forced displacement.

If convicted, the perpetrators face a life sentence or a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, depending on the age of the perpetrator and the type of violence committed.

Several people have been convicted of rape by different courts.

A High Court in Ado-Ekiti in July 2022 sentenced Dele Adeyanju, 49, was sentenced to four years in prison for raping an 11-year-old girl.

A high court in Bauchi in 2017 sentenced Two middle-aged men were sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 40-year-old woman and gouging out her eyes.