A middle-aged man, Chigozie Emmanuel, has testified in the Ikeja High Court against his pastor, Elijah Emenandy, on charges of sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault.

Led in evidence by the Lagos State counsel Olu Azeez, the witness alleged that his pastor introduced him to pornography, masturbation and anal sex in his church office. 

Mr Emmanuel, who recounted how the alleged incident took place when he was 19 years old, said Mr Emenandy informed his mother in December 2020 that he had a vision concerning him, predicting that he would die in February 2021.

According to the alleged survivor, Mr Emenandy then requested that his mother bring him for immediate prayers.

The witness said he went with his mother to visit Mr Emenandy during an evening programme at his church. He said the pastor initiated weekly counselling sessions on Tuesdays.

“He asked me questions like if I had ever had sex before or masturbated and if I watched pornography. He also asked if I had wet dreams or if I was into fraud. I said I had not done those things, but I was about getting into fraud.

“He advised me not to get into fraud and that I should change my lifestyle, and I did. I stopped wearing earrings, my dress code, and how I speak,” Mr Emmanuel explained. 

The witness alleged that the accused, thereafter, invited him to his office and asked him to take off his trousers and that he should touch his manhood until it became hard, but that he declined because he had never experienced such before.

He told the court that after a while, the defendant removed his clothes and asked him (the witness) to do the same and sit on his lap and then suck the defendant’s nipples.

The witness told the court that, at first, he refused, but the defendant told him that he was releasing powers from his body to remove the demonic spirit.

The witness said the defendant started showing porn videos on his phone in his church office on how to masturbate.

He said the pastor took him to his friend’s house, where he did the same and asked him to stand on a bible and masturbate. The witness said he could not do what the pastor asked him to. 

“After trying for some time, I ejaculated, and the defendant looked at my semen and said it was ok,” he noted.

According to the witness, the pastor told him that he should ejaculate more often and then invited him to bed to suck his nipples.

“Then we started again at the church; he would just go naked and ask me to suck his nipples and masturbate, that every time we ejaculated together, life was transferred from his own to mine so that I won’t die. I believed him because he was like my spiritual father, ” said Mr Emmanuel. 

He said the pastor also promised to sponsor his education and requested that he relocate to his self-contained apartment in the Mile 2 area of Lagos. 

The witness further said the defendant, thereafter, requested to penetrate his anus, but he refused, and the following day, the defendant was angry and said he refused to do the work of God with him the previous night.

He told the court that days later because the defendant was persistent, he agreed to anal sex and was seriously bruised and bled for two days.

According to the witness, the pastor made him masturbate twice daily while being asked to drink his (pastor’s) urine every day. An act he said he refused at first but later did after much pressure.

Mr Emmanuel said the defendant also told him to eat his feaces, which he did once and vomited.

He said the defendant asked him to always watch same-sex pornography and not the opposite sex, and he would beat him up whenever he had a wet dream, piercing his manhood, scrotum and stomach with a syringe.

He informed the court that on one such occasion, the defendant used the needle to pierce his veins while black blood gushed.

The witness said that at a particular time, the defendant pierced his body, used St. Micheal oil on his eyes and poured ground pepper on his bleeding body while asking him to eat the faeces of a dog and had to comply.

The witness also told the court that he thereafter vomited.

Justice Oyindamola Ogala adjourned the case until December 11 and 14 to continue the trial.

The defendant, who appeared sick and reported to have been brought from the hospital, is standing trial on a three-count charge of sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault.

He pleaded not guilty on arraignment.

(NAN)