A pastor of a new generation church, Pillar Erekwa, has been sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour for for defiling and impregnating a 15-year-old girl.
The preacher was jailed by a Rivers State Family Court for the offence he committed in Rundele community, Emohua local government area of the state.
Upon completion of his jail term, Erekwa was mandated to pay the sum of N500,000 to the family of the teenage girl for the medical bills during the pregnancy period.
The presiding Chief Magistrate, Ogeh Elkanah during the proceedings, denied journalists access into the courtroom for coverage of the judgment.
Pastor Erekwa had during the arraignment, pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of sexual abuse preferred against him by the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department.
Meanwhile, no fewer than eight persons, on Wednesday, escaped death when a truck conveying cows rammed into three other vehicles along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Two persons, however, sustained injuries.
The accident, which occurred at the Sagamu-Interchange stretch of the expressway, involved four vehicles including one truck, two Toyota Hiace buses and one Toyota SUV.
READ ALSO: Akwa Ibom: Minors Forced Into Prostitution Rescued
It was gathered that the truck conveying cows reportedly lost control and collided with the vehicle in front causing multiple collisions.
An eyewitness, Azeez Olayiwola, blamed the accident on a lack of concentration on the part of the truck driver.
“I think the truck driver was unaware that there was traffic gridlock in front and he was unable to control the speed of the vehicle when he realised there was traffic, resulting in the multiple collision,” Olayiwola said.
Confirming the accident in an interview with our correspondent, the Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Ahmed Umar, noted that four vehicles were involved in the collision and eight persons were involved with two of the victims sustaining injuries.
“I can confirm that four vehicles were involved in the accident in the early hours of today (Wednesday) which involved eight persons.
“Among the eight persons, two were injured and were taken to the hospital for immediate treatment,” Umar said.