Court remands clergy for allegedly defiling teenager

An Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday remanded a 50-year-old Pastor, Lawrence Omoniyi, in Kirikiri Correctional Centre for allegedly defiling a teenage girl.

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 (DPP).

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.

Akeem said that the 15-year-old victim and the defendant reside in the same house in the said address.

The prosecutor alleged that the girl confided in one of her sisters that the defendant had sexually assaulted her in the last two years.

The prosecutor said the defendant allegedly threatened to kill the victim if she told anyone.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.