….Pastor Famakinwa Ajayi sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for defiling a minor in Ayede Ogbese, Ondo State
The Ondo State High Court has sentenced 61-year old Pastor Famakinwa Ajayi of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayede Ogbese, to 18 years imprisonment for defiling a 16-year old child (names withheld) who subsequently conceived and gave birth.
Famakinwa Ajayi, a clergyman, had been alleged to have defiled and repeatedly had carnal knowledge of his naïve victim at his house in Ayede Ogbese township in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State, where the impoverished family of the victim were tenants.
He is said to have once taken the child to the market square at night where he raped her brutally on the pretext of administering ‘much-needed’ spiritual deliverance to her.
He continued in this dastardly act unabashedly till the innocent minor became pregnant in October 2021.
Famakinwa on his part, confessed to have slept with the child once in his living room before he was charged to court.
It would be recalled that upon being briefed of the incident by the Ayede Ogbese Women Vanguard of the town, HRH Olori Olufunmilayo Nejo-Oluyede (renowned women/human’s rights activist and amiable wife of HRM Oba Ajibola Oluyede, the Alayede of Ayede Ogbose) immediately took the victim under her wings.
She found an appropriate school and promptly sent her back to school to resume her education under her personal financial sponsorship.
The public-spirited, compassionate Queen subsequently proceeded to empower the victim’s mother in a small business to enable her cater to the needs of the baby, whom she affectionately christened “Peter”.
Before then, the victim had dropped out of school and had resorted to hawking pure water on the Ayede Ogbese Akure-Owo highway, alongside her mother.
In Suit No: AK/195C/2021 filed on behalf of the Ondo State Government by Mrs. Helen Falowo (Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Ondo State Ministry of Justice), the defendant stood trial on a two (2)-count charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, contrary to Section 31(1)of the Child’s Rights Law of Ondo State and sexual abuse and exploitation contrary to Section 32 (1).
Delivering judgement on Wednesday 10th May 2023, Hon. Justice Yemi Fasanmi of the Ondo State High Court discharged and acquitted the defendant on Count 2 but found him guilty on Count 1 and proceeded to convict and sentence him to 18 years imprisonment.
Reacting to the judgment, the Traditional ruler of the town, HRH Oba Ajibola Oluyede, who is also a distinguished legal luminary, expressed his profound satisfaction with the verdict.
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According to he Monarch, “….this will certainly serve as a much-required deterrence to others of the ilk of Famakinwa Ajayi.”
Source: Coastal Renaissance
