Hope James

 

The General Overseer of The Beloved Chapel, Isreal Adebayo, have been arrested by Men of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly defiling a 14-year-old chorister of his church at Agbado, Ifo Local Government Area of the state.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, made this known in a statement on Sunday, adding that Adebayo was arrested following a complaint lodged by the mother of the victim.

According to him, the mother noted that while she traveled to treat herself of certain ailment, her daughter who happened to be a choir member in their church, went to the church and the pastor lured her into his room and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her.

He said “Upon the report, the DPO Agbado Division detailed his detectives to the scene where the pastor was promptly arrested. 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 long ago, but the mother of the victim frustrated the move because she doesn’t want to offend her pastor.

“But when the victim was continuously bleeding from her private parts since the incident which happened in October 2021, she was left with no other option than to inform the police. The victim claimed that the pastor was the first person to sleep with her. She is currently recuperating in a hospital.”

Oyeyemi said the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.