A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Port Harcourt has remanded the pastor of a new generation church, Piller Erekwa, to the maximum security custodial centre in the Rivers State capital for allegedly defiling a minor.
This followed his arraignment by the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the Rivers State Police Command on a one-count charge of sexual abuse.
Erekwa pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him that he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl in Mgbuola village in Ndele, the Emuoha Local Government Area of the state between December 2022 and January 2023.
The court presided over by Chief Magistrate Ogeh Elkanah adjourned the matter till July 19 for facts and sentencing after remanding the suspect.
Erekwa was arrested last Thursday at Ndele by men of the Rumuji Police Division and was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation.
He was accused of defiling and impregnating the teenager who is a member of his church.
Meanwhile, a group, the Centre for Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, has commended the police for arraigning the suspect.
The group’s National Coordinator, Prince Wiro, also lauded the family of the victim for rejecting an out-of-court settlement arrangement.
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