The cleric had carnal knowledge of his 10-year-old stepdaughter when she came for holiday.
A pastor identified as Anwana Peter Essien has bagged 21 years imprisonment for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter.
The convict, a prophet with the Restoration Bible Church, Itiam Street, Uyo, and a native of Afaha Ise in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, is said to have committed the crime on August 9, 2019, when her mother brought her and her younger sister for holiday with their stepfather in his house at Itiam Street, Uyo.
Admitted to the crime, the 37-year-old prophet said he was pushed into the act by demons, admitting that he forcefully removed the clothes of his stepdaughter and had unlawful carnal knowledge of her.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Okon held that the confession was “direct, positive and unequivocal and that the randy stepfather had sexual intercourse with his stepdaughter.”
The court held that “the parameters established for the proof of rape, have all been satisfied by the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, including the victim and the medical doctor who examined her, fortified by the confessional statement voluntarily made by the accused person himself.
“It is most despicable and depressing, that the supposed man of God overpowered and defiled an innocent child of about ten years who is incidentally, his own stepdaughter.”
Justice Okon further described the conduct as “bizarre and degrading” adding that “the defendant lacks any claim of moral rectitude having thrown overboard, the limits of his liberties by shamelessly stripping and polluting the dignity, chastity, and sanctity of his stepdaughter’s body and totally disregarding her underage status.”
Sentencing Essien to 21 years imprisonment, Okon maintained that it would take effect from the day he was first taken into custody in the Custodian Centre, Uyo.
