An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence court handed down a life imprisonment sentence to Feyi Daniels, the founder of iReign Christian Ministry, for “raping a church member.”
The trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, pronounced the Lagos-based cleric guilty of rape and sexual assault of a female worshipper.
Earlier, The PUNCH reported that during his defense, the Bishop testified, alleging that he believed three out of the four women who accused him of sexual assault conspired against him.
Under cross-examination, the prosecution’s lead counsel, Babajide Boye, attempted to establish that Daniels had a ‘personal relationship’ with the four women. Boye alleged that Daniels had counseled one woman, provided N100,000 to another for hospital treatment, paid school fees for a third, and interacted with a fourth as a leader in the campus fellowship associated with his ministry in Akungba-Akobo, Ondo State.
However, the Bishop denied giving money to one of the women for treatment, stating, “I believe all three ladies turned against me, but not (name withheld) because she later apologized to me.”
When questioned why the accusations from the women were all sexual in nature, Daniels replied, “I didn’t know.”
The defense counsel, Adebayo Adegbite, objected to the admissibility of the statements, arguing that they were not made voluntarily and that the Bishop signed them under duress. Adegbite stated, “The statements are a mixture of confession and denial. We leave it to the court to determine whether they amount to a confession. Right from the start of this trial, the defendant has denied the charges, that’s his plea. The documents weren’t made voluntarily. Even if there were contradictions, he wasn’t the maker of the documents, they were written by the police.”
In his ruling, Justice Rahman Oshodi admitted the documents, saying, “By section 9(3) and (4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (2021), the presence of a video testimony of the suspect is desirable but not compulsory. I will admit the documents and later consider the evidential value to place on them. The objection of the defense is hereby overruled.”
