Friday 14 September 2012

Rape: Court grants accused pastor bail

It was celebration
galore Thursday night,
at the Mountain Movers
Fire Ministries, one of
the fast rising churches
in Abuja, the nation’s
capital, as its
worshipers converged
in their numbers to
give thanks to God for
a bail granted their
General Overseer,
Apostle Basil Princewill.
Justice Husseini Baba-
Yusuf of the FCT High
Court on Thursday,
granted bail to the
pastor, Basil Princewill,
who is being charged
with alleged rape of a
14-year-old girl,a
worshipper in his
church.
Princewill is the
General Overseer of
Mountain Movers Fire
Ministries International,
located in Nyanya,
Abuja.
He was arrested by the
men of the Nigeria
Police, in Nyanya
following allegation by
some members of his
church that he raped
and molested some
young female
members of his church.
The judge’s order that
the accused be granted
bail followed the
absence of the
prosecutor in court. He
said the prosecutor
neither filed any
counter-affidavit nor
was present at the
hearing of the
application for bail.
Before granting the
bail order, the judge
fumed, “the conclusion
I am bound to draw
from this is that the
prosecutor does not
have objection to bail
being granted to the
accused.
“The attitude of the
prosecutor in this case,
therefore, is
blameworthy and must
be condemned in
strong term. As
ministers in the temple
of justice, we are
accountable to the
public in all that we do.
And so, in the
discharge of our duties,
it is imperative to give
the impression that we
are acting in the
interest of justice”.
Justice Baba-Yusuf
therefore granted the
accused bail in the sum
of N500, 000 with one
reliable surety in like
sum.
“Accordingly, the
accused is hereby
granted bail in the sum
of N500, 000 and one
reliable surety in like
sum,” he said, but
added that the surety
must be a civil servant
resident within the FCT.
The accused, according
to the judge, would be
arraigned on the next
adjourned date.
The church members
came out to exonerate
their pastor, saying he
was not somebody of
unquestionable
character to have
engaged in what he
was standing trial for
in the court.

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