A High Court, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State sent one Prophet Anwana Peter Essien, to 21 years in jail for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter
Essien who was with the Restoration Bible Church, Itiam Street, Uyo, and a native of Afaha Ise in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state, committed the crime on August 9, 2019, when the girl’s mother brought her and her younger sister for holiday with their stepfather in his house On Itiam Street, Uyo.
The 37-year-old prophet confessed to the crime, saying he was lured by demons, adding that he forcefully removed the clothes of his victim and raped her.
Justice Okon Okon who heard the case said the confession was “direct, positive and unequivocal and that the randy stepfather had sexual intercourse with his stepdaughter.”
He said “the parameters established for the proof of rape, have all been satisfied by the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, including the victim and the medical doctor who examined her, fortified by the confessional statement voluntarily made by the accused person himself.”
“It is most despicable and depressing, that the supposed man of God overpowered and defiled an innocent child of about ten years who is incidentally, his own stepdaughter.”
Justice Okon described the conduct as “bizarre and degrading” adding that “the defendant lacks any claim of moral rectitude having thrown overboard, the limits of his liberties by shamelessly stripping and polluting the dignity, chastity and sanctity of his stepdaughter’s body and totally disregarding her underage status.”
