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By Romanus Okoye
Three clerics were yesterday arraigned at Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court section, Lagos High Court, Ikeja, by the Lagos State Government, on eight-count charge of rape and abusing dead bodies of their congregants.
The clerics, Jacob Farinmade, Abraham Olujobi and Olatunde Taiwo pleaded not guilty to three charges of conspiracy and misconduct with regards to a corpse. Farinmade also pleaded not guilty to other charges of rape, unlawful detention and unlawful burial in a house.
According to the lead state prosecutor, Mr Olusola Soneye, the defendants who were in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ Gospel Mission at No. 15/23 Pipeline Street, Ipaja, Lagos, committed the offences in 2015 in Lagos.
“The defendants, sometime in 2015, indecently cut open the body of Deborah Elijah for the purpose of separating her from her foetus prior to burial. They treated the body of one Olubunmi Saliu in an undignified manner by burying her in a shallow grave in the church premises,” he said.
Soneye alleged that Farinmade, while being the reverend in charge of the church, raped three women and unlawfully detained one of the women.
“Farinmade also authorised the burial of Deborah Elijah in an adjourning land at the Celestial Church Gospel Mission without the relevant consent of the Local Government Authority,” he said.
The offences contravene Sections 144, 165, 260 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015. The prosecutor said 13 witnesses were set to testify against the clerics on behalf of the prosecution.
Justice Abiola Soladoye ordered that the clerics continue to be remanded at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre and adjourned the case until December 16 for trial.
