Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced a Prophet, Anwana Peter Essien, to 21 years in prison for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter.

The 37-year-old Prophet, a native of Afaha Ise in Ibiono Ibom Local government area, was convicted of raping the JSS One student on August 9, 2019.

The incident occurred when the victim and her younger sister were brought by their mother to spend the holiday with their stepfather in his house at Itiam Street, Uyo.

The convict, in his evidence before the Court, confessed that it was a demon that pushed him in the midnight to forcefully removed the clothes of his step-daughter and have unlawful carnal knowledge of her.

The convict said: “I know the victim of this case. She is my wife’s daughter. In the month of August 2019, she came to my house at Itiam Street, Uyo. I gave her food and she ate then after eating, I told her to remove her clothes but she refused from there, forced her and removed her clothes.

“I was the one that used my hand and removed my penis and forcefully inserted it into her vagina and had canal knowledge of her. It is true that when I tried to put my pen inside her vagina, my penis was not able to enter her vagina. When I was having s3x with her, I did not use any condom.”

In its judgement, the Court presided over by Justice Okon Okon held that the confession was “direct, positive and unequivocal that the randy stepfather had s3xual intercourse with his stepdaughter.”

Justice Okon 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.”

The Court further held that “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” saying “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.”

The Court found Anwana Peter Essien guilty as charged and accordingly convicted him.

Justice Okon said the 12 years imprisonment is with effect from when the convict was taken into custody in the Custodial Centre, Uyo.

The convict begged the Court to release him, as he has a son who has nobody to take care of. (The Nation)

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