Court upholds 7-year-jail for Abuja pastor convicted of rape, abortion

The affirmation

Apostle Basil Princewill, an Abuja pastor, who was convicted and sentenced to seven years jail term for rape and abortion by a Federal Capital Territory High Court, has had the appeal affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

The affirmation of the judgment took place Tuesday by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

This medium reports that a Federal High Court of the Federal Capital Territory had earlier delivered a judgment in respect of the case.

The Judge, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf of the FCT High Court had, in a judgment on June 25, 2019 found the pastor guilty of rape and procuring abortion for a 14-year-old girl in 2011 and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment.

But while delivering judgment in an appeal number: CA/A/03c/2020 filed by Appostle Princewill, challenging the judgment of the Abuja Court, Justice Stephen Adah of the Appeal Court held that the appeal lacked merit and consequently struck it out.

He said, “Having looked at the arguments in the appeal and the records as well as the evidence adduced in the case, I hold that the lower court did not do anything wrong by sentencing the appellant to seven years imprisonment.

“The appeal failed and the judgment of the lower court is hereby upheld,” Justice Adah held.

In sentencing the convict, Justice Baba-Yusuf held that the commission of rape was bad enough, “but it became more worrisome when the convict was someone looked upon as a man next to God.”

He held that the convict’s action was a desecration of the house of God and an act capable of destroying the life of the victim.

The judge added that he hoped the convict would use the four walls of the prison to become a born again.

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