WOLE BALOGUN, Ado-Ekiti

The Ekiti State Ministry of Justice has published the identity of an Anglican clergyman, Reverend Gabriel Asateru, was recently sentenced to five years imprisonment by an Ado-Ekiti High Court for raping a minor.

Asateru, 53, was accused of defiling a seven-year-old girl and later ran away before he was arrested by the police and arraigned in January, 2018, before Justice Oluwatoyin Abodunde on a one-count charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.

He was said to have committed the offence on December 23, 2016, at Ifisin Ekiti, in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state.

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Justice Abodunde ruled that the accused person stands guilty and accordingly convicted to serve a prison of 5 years and to also pay a sum of N50, 000 fine as stipulated by Child’s Rights Law 2005.

The Attorney-General of Ekiti State, Olawale Fapohunda, had earlier issued a statement on plans to curb the menace of sexual violence in the state. He stated that these would include pasting of sex offenders pictures in prominent public spaces, uploading of offenders photographs on the website of the Ministry of Justice, compulsory psychiatric tests for all persons of whom the Director of Public Prosecution (D.P.P) has issued ‘a case to answer’ legal opinion for the offence of child defilement, etc.

Consequently, a statement on Friday reads: “The Ministry of Justice has today began the publication of the names and photographs of convicted sex offenders in the state. We are commencing with a Public Notice on the status of Reverend Asateru Gabriel, a former Anglican priest who was convicted for the Sexual Abuse of a seven-year-old girl.

”Reverend Gabriel is currently serving a five-year prison sentence in Federal Prison, Ado Ekiti. This publication is in furtherance of the Fayemi administration’s zero-tolerance policy for all forms of violence against women and children.”