A Catholic priest, Rev Fr Nwaigwe Stephen, in Anambra State has been remanded in a correctional centre by an Awka magistrates’ court, known as Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court, for allegedly raping and impregnating a teenager.
The magistrate ordered the prosecutor to transmit the original case file to the office of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Anambra State.
The priest was also accused of forcefully taking the pregnant minor to Benin City, Edo State, where she was delivered of her baby, but police investigation revealed that the whereabouts of the baby was still unknown.
Ruling on a bail application by the defence counsel, the Magistrate, Genevieve Osakwe, stated that the case was an offence punishable with life imprisonment, regretting that the offence of rape against a minor was becoming rampant.
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But the police prosecutor prayed the court to refuse bail to the clergyman, stating that the case was an offence against a minor who was supposedly under the spiritual guardianship of the defendant.
The magistrate, therefore, ordered for the remand of the priest and adjourned the case to December 6, 2023.
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