Three leaders of the Celestial Church of Christ, Jacob Farinmade, Abraham Olujobi and Olatunde Taiwo, have been ordered to be remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Centre after they were re-arraigned before an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court by the Lagos State Government on Offences bordering on sexual offences.
The church leaders were arraigned on an eight-count charge of rape and abuse of corpses of their congregants.
The three defendants have pleaded not guilty to three charges of conspiracy and misconduct with regards to a corpse.
Farinmade, accused of rape, pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, unlawful detention and unlawful burial in a house.
According to the lead state prosecutor, Mr Olusola Soneye, the defendants, in charge of Celestial Church of Christ Gospel Mission at No. 15/23 Pipeline Street, Ipaja, Lagos, committed the offences in 2015 in Lagos.
“The defendants sometime in 2015, indecently cut open the corpse of Deborah Elijah for the purpose of separating her from her foetus prior to burial.
“They treated the corpse of one Olubunmi Saliu in an undignified manner by burying her in a shallow grave in the church premises,” he said.
Soneye said that Farinmade while being the reverend in charge of the church, raped three women (names withheld) and unlawfully detained one of the women.
“Farinmade also authorised the burial of Deborah Elijah in an adjourning land at the Celestial Church Gospel Mission without the relevant consent of the Local Government Authority,” he said.
The offences contravene Sections 144, 165, 260 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015.
The prosecutor said 13 witnesses are set to testify against the clerics on behalf of the prosecution.
Justice Abiola Soladoye ordered that the clerics continue to be remanded at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre and adjourned the case until December 16 for trial.
