EVANGELIST ARRESTED FOR RAPE

10/03/2008

Story: Mary Mensah
A 28-year-old-man who posed as an evangelist and succeeded in luring a 26-year- old petty trader to an abandoned house where he raped her, has been arrested by the police.
The suspect, Peter Ahoadin, was alleged to have severely assaulted the victim after the act for lying on his bible which fell down during a struggle between the two.
Narrating the incident to the Daily Graphic in Accra, Inspector Irene Oppong, Public Relations Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, said on February 26, 2008 at about noon, the victim, Ishatu Ibrahim, went to the St John’s School area at Achimota to buy cocoa drink for sale.
Inspector Oppong said the victim decided to eat before going on her usual rounds to sell the drink and sat on a bench at a carpentry shop to eat.
She said while eating, the victim was approached by the suspect who was holding a bible.
The suspect, she said, told the victim that he was the leader of a group of pastors who go round lorry stations to preach and that he had seen evil spirits following her and that she would never know any happiness in life unless she was delivered from the hands of the spirit.
The victim, who became convinced, quickly knelt down for the evangelist to pray for her but he insisted that the place was too open so they should rather go to his assistant’s house, which was nearby for the prayers.
Inspector Oppong said Peter ordered her to kneel down and raise her hands and while she was doing this, Peter was chewing something which later turned out to be ginger and pepper.
When Peter called out to the victim to open her eyes and look at him, and he quickly spat the contents into her eyes and this blinded her.
The Public Relations Officer said the suspect then pushed her onto the floor after struggling with her for some time, he succeeded in raping her. Though the victim shouted for help, nobody came to her rescue because the place was isolated.
After the act, the suspect started looking for his bible and when he realised that the victim had been lying on it during the act, he was so infuriated that he severely assaulted the victim before leaving her to her fate.
The victim managed to crawl out of the house and after walking for sometime met a good Samaritan who helped her to the roadside to pick a vehicle back home.
Three days after the incident, the victim went back to the area to buy cocoa drink as usual.
Inspector Oppong said Peter spotted the victim first and quickly walked up to her to ask how she got home the other day.
The victim raised an alarm which led to Peter’s arrest and he was handed over to the Mile 7 Police at Achimota.