The victim’s mother was said to have gone out to buy some items when Ebenyi allegedly took advantage of the girl.
The mother, who spoke to PUNCH Metro on condition of anonymity, said, “The pastor came to our house to sell some drugs to me. Before he came, I had it in mind to get some things for the house. So, I left him and my daughter to go and buy those things.
“When I got back home, I saw the pastor inserting his fingers in my daughter’s private parts. I shouted and he said it was the devil. I called people, who came around and beat him up. Eventually, he was arrested.”
The defendant confessed to the crime.
In his confessional statement, he said, “I am Pastor Christopher Ebenyi. I am from Eziulo in the Ishielu Local Government Area. I know the victim at Convent in Abakaliki. I got to their house and called her; she came and I touched her private parts.”
He was arraigned on one count of indecent assault before the magistrate’s court.
The police prosecutor, ASP Mathias Eze, told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 222 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 33, Vol 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.
The charge read, “That you, Christopher Ebenyi, on December 15, 2020, on Nsi Road, Abakaliki, in the Abakaliki Magisterial District, did finger the vagina of one (name withheld) aged five, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 222 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 33, Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.”
The counsel for the defendant, C.F. Ogbonnaya, applied for his bail, which the prosecuting counsel opposed on the grounds that he might run away.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Nnenna Onuoha, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.
According to Onuoha, the defendant must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court.
She adjourned the matter till January 28, 2021, for trial.
Punch
