CALABAR (CONVERSEER) – A Customary Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, has sentenced Pastor Favour Maxy Okoise, General Overseer of Refiners Fire Global Assembly, to life imprisonment for raping a 16-years-old girl.
Okoise committed the act on the minor whom he calls his ‘spiritual daughter’ between November and December 2016, in Calabar South Local Government Area.
The Pastor was convicted and sentenced on Tuesday at the Family Court of the Customary Court of Appeal, presided by His Lordship, Hon. Justice Blessing Egwu Obin.
According to CrossRiverWatch, the minor came to Calabar in August 2016 for her post-UTME examination and lived with her elder sister at Goldie Street, where the convict visited frequently to share spiritual knowledge.
The survivor narrated that Pastor Okoise harassed her sexually and touched her sensitive parts on several occasions. She said that after numerous attempts to have intercourse with her proved abortive, the convict indoctrinated her that “God needed her body as much as her spirit and soul.”
The Overseer told her that he could transfer spiritual virtues to her through intercourse. She was coerced against her will to have intercourse with him, brainwashing her to be her “spiritual father,” helping to render service to God.
Delivering her verdict, Justice Obin stated that after cross-examination, exhibits and facts presented before her declared that “the defendant had unlawful carnal knowledge of O.P.I (victim) as a minor.”
Citing the Cross River State Child Protection Law 2003, she said, “Accordingly, Favour Maxy Okoise has been sentenced to life Imprisonment and a compensation of N1 million to the survivor, this is the judgement of this court.”
Speaking shortly after the judgement, Barr. Doris Nduanusi, one of the prosecuting Counsels and Lawyer to Gender and Development Action (GADA), who secured the conviction, said, “We need more activists, we need more voices to be heard to let the society know that these kinds of ills that are happening can be stopped and there are punishments for such actions.”
On her part, Barr. Asibong Asi, Programme Officer, Legal, Training and Justice Sector of GADA, said, “The judgment of the court will stand as a warning to those who are engaged in abusing minors, as children don’t give consent to sexual acts.”