June 01, (THEWILL) – High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Tuesday, remanded a 34-year-old ‘prophet’, Godson Nse Thompson, in the Correctional Centre, for alleged sexual assault on a female minor who he was seeking intercessory prayers for.
The trial judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang, ordered the remand of the prophet, a native of Ikot Offiong Nsit in Nsit Ibom Local Council, after hearing the evidence of the victim, who is a Senior Secondary (SS) 1 student of a government secondary school in the state.
In her evidence, the victim, a native of Ikot Uboh in Nsit Ubium, told the court that while living with her older sister in Uyo, her in-law took her to a church at Information Drive, Uyo and when he left at about 6:00p.m, the pastor took her to his house, where she was sexually abused all through the night.
She said the accused person, a father of three children, gave her a bucket to urinate inside the house to prevent her from going outside.
The minor narrated that on the fateful day, the alleged prophet told her that she should accompany him elsewhere to pray for somebody, which she did, only to end up in his house, where he brought black liquid substance in a plastic bottle and drank before raping her.
In her words: “My in-law took me to a church by IBB Way, Uyo, by 6pm, saying he will pick me up by 7pm. When my in-law left the church, the accused person made a phone call to a tricyclist and the tricyclist came in. The accused person asked me to enter the tricycle, saying he was going to pray for two persons and that he would also pray for me.
“When we got there, he prayed for the first and second persons. Thereafter, the accused person and I trekked to the main road and he stopped a tricycle. We both entered it and at a certain point, the tricyclist stopped and the accused person said I should wait for him.”
She stated that they later ended up in the accused person’s house, where he brought out a black liquid substance in a plastic bottle and drank before raping her.
She further told the court that she started bleeding and using sanitary pads for two weeks after the incident, which occurred on Friday, July 10, 2021.
She said she saw ladies’ panties in different colours and pictures of women inside the prophet’s room.
The victim said she was able to escape when the accused person forgot to lock the door of the house and ran to a nearby church where she was rescued.
At the conclusion of the evidence of the victim, the trial judge ordered the accused to be taken back to prison even as the case was adjourned to August 1, 2022 for continuation of trial.
