Israel Adebayo, General Overseer of the Beloved Chapel, Agbado, Ifo, Ogun State, has been arrested by the police for forcefully having carnal knowledge of a 14-year-old member of his church.
SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun State police spokesperson, disclosed on Sunday that Adebayo, whose church is situated at No 9, Iyaniwura street, off Owonikoko, Agbado, was arrested after the mother of the victim reported the case to the police.
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Adebayo was reported to have lured the teenager, who is a chorister in his church, into his room and had forceful knowledge of her.
“Upon the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Agbado Division, detailed his detectives to the scene, where the pastor was promptly arrested,” said the police.
“On interrogation, the pastor, who admitted defiling the victim, pleaded for forgiveness.
“According to him, his family and that of the victim are so close, but he didn’t know how and why such a thing happened to him.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect would have been arrested a long time ago, but the mother of the victim frustrated the move because she didn’t want to offend her pastor.
“But when the victim is continuously bleeding from her private part since the incident which happened October 2021, She was left with no other option than to allow police come into the matter.
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“The victim, who claimed that the pastor was the first person to sleep with her, is currently recuperating in a hospital.”
Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the case to state Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.
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