A 60-year-old clergy man is in trouble in Aba, Abia State after he punished his underage house help for giving him sub-optimal oral sex.
The man, identified as Chukwuemeka Orji of the Assemblies of God Church, has now been arrested by the Abia State Police Command for allegedly defiling his 13-year-old female domestic worker.
He has also been expelled from the Assemblies of God Church.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Chinaka Maureen, who confirmed Orji’s arrest, said an investigation into the case was ongoing.
The 60-year-old pastor has a one-year-old history of sexually abusing the househelp after he took the victim from her family members with a promise to sponsor her education.
He started having carnal knowledge of the minor since she was 12 years old.
In a bid to silence the victim, the cleric allegedly threatened to stop sponsoring her education and send her back to her family members if she informed anyone about the illicit acts.
Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the pastor, the 13-year-old girl said when she started living with Orji, he regularly made sexual advances to her which she refused.
She, however, noted that things took another turn when the pastor allegedly forcefully had carnal knowledge of her sometime in 2022, adding that afterwards, it became a regular act.
According to sources close to the family, Orji ran out of luck on Thursday, June 15, 2023, when he attempted to have his way with the minor but discovered that she was on her period.
He was said to have forced her to perform oral sex on him. He however believed the girl did not do her best during the act.
One of the sources said, “Unsatisfied by her performance, he sent her to cut grass at a farm within the church premises as a punishment.
“The victim who could no longer bear the action of the pastor reported him to her class teacher when she got to school. The teacher notified the proprietor of the school and the proprietor alerted the Executive Director of Vivacious Development Initiative, Lady Nwosu, who informed a colleague, Chuka Okoye, after which the police were contacted and the pastor was arrested.”
The Punch correspondent gathered that Orji was arraigned at a Magistrate Court sitting in the Aba South Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday and was remanded with a bail condition in the Abia State Correctional Centre pending the determination of his cases.
Meanwhile, the Aba District Superintendent of Assemblies of God Church, Rev. Dr Don Njoku, in his reaction to the development, said Orji had been sanctioned and expelled from the ministry.
He made the statement to the Protect the Precious Foundation led by Norah Okafor.
