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A 30-year-old interior decorator simply identified as Ajibola Akindele, who was arrested on April 18 by detectives in Ogun State Police Command has denied forcefully having carnal knowledge of a 20-year-old lady (name withheld) inside a church, saying that they both reached an agreement on the act before it was done.
Akindele was arrested after the victim’s mother reported at Lafenwa divisional police headquarters that she sent her daughter to go and decorate a church at Ita Oshin area of Abeokuta together with the suspect on April 16, only for him to pounce on her and rape her after some women who came to sweep the church in preparation for Sunday service had left.
He was said to have seized the opportunity of being alone with her to forcefully have unlawful carnal knowledge of her inside the church.
Confirming the report, the police image maker in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Lafenwa Division, CSP Kayode Shadrach, sent his detectives who arrested the suspect.
But in an interview, Akindele, who is married with two children, said: “I did not force myself on the girl. The sexual act was consensual.
“What happened was that her guardians called me to help in the decoration of their church hall. I have known the girl for about six years.
“Before the sexual relationship, I had made love advances to her that morning because I like her, and she consented.
“I arrived at the church for decoration at about 8am. The girl was asked by his guardians to join me in doing the job.
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“At about 10am, we went to lie down on a side of the church. She was even the one who pulled off her clothing.
“She was a virgin, so she bled as I penetrated her. Our act was discovered when her friend noticed blood stains on her dress as she was going from the church. The friend called the girl’s mother and the mother came because of that.”
When asked if he saw the act as a desecration of a holy place, the suspect did not respond.
The state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the suspect to the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Labour Unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and subsequent prosecution.