A 50-year-old cleric, Lawrence Omoniyi, has been remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Centre by an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, on Thursday, for allegedly defiling a teenage girl.
The defendant, whose church name is being withheld, resides at 4, Orisunbare St., off Tapa Road, Isawo Ikorodu, Lagos.
Omoniyi is being tried for defilement.
The Prosecutor, ASP Raji Akeem, told the court that the offence was committed between 2020 and December 2022 at the defendant’s residence.
He added that the 15-year-old victim and the defendant reside in the same house at the said address.
Akeem alleged that the girl confided in one of her sisters that the defendant had sexually assaulted her in the last two years.
Akeem told the court that the defendant allegedly threatened to kill the victim if she told anyone.
He said the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
However, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs Bola Osunsanmi, who did not take the defendant’s plea, adjourned the case until April 18 for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Meanwhile, Oyo State police have arrested two persons suspected to be members of a secret cult, the Eiye Confraternity over alleged murder.
They also arrested two other persons for alleged armed robbery and murder.
The police spokesman in the state, SP Adewale Osifeso paraded the suspects at the police headquarters, Eleiyele, Ibadan on Thursday.
He said the suspects are members of the dreaded secret cult responsible for armed robberies and killing of innocent people in Oyo town and its environs.
Osifeso said also that the suspects invaded a house at Okun Compound, Molete in Oyo town on Monday at about 2.20 a.m., armed with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons and murdered one Jimoh Akeem.
“The complainant managed to escape from the attack, but the deceased who shared his apartment and was sleeping at the time was not able to escape and was gruesomely murdered.
“The assailants vandalised properties in the house and fled with some valuable items,’’ Osifeso said.
He said police investigations at the respective hideouts of two of the suspects led to their arrest.
He added that the duo confessed to the crime and also to the fact that they belonged to Eiye Confraternity.
He added that investigations to track down other members of the criminal gang had continued.
One of the suspects told newsmen that the deceased belonged to a rival cult gang that attacked members of his confraternity earlier but managed to escape.
“Eight of us later went to meet them where they normally sleep and killed one of them with a machete.
“Five out of the eight people that went for the operation went inside the house and killed the victim,’’ the suspect said.
The two suspected armed robbers that were paraded allegedly invaded the Iseke area of Oyo town attacked and murdered one Olamilekan Ajakaye and dispossessed him of his cell phone and huge sums of money.
Items recovered from the suspects were 25 live cartridges, one Walkie Talkie, and two axes.
