The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Benin Zonal Command, says it has arrested a pastor and two others for allegedly raping and impregnating a 12-year-old orphan.
NAPTIP zonal commander, Nduka Nwanwenne, told newsmen on Monday that the preacher was of a popular church in Uromi, Esan North East council area of Benin.
Mr Nwanwenne, however, did not name the suspects.
The 30-year-old pastor was arrested alongside a herbalist, 59, and another 30-year-old man.
Nwanwenne alleged that the three suspects, at different times, engaged in continuous sexual molestation, rape and defilement of the girl who is now five months pregnant.
The zonal commander said that the pregnant girl had been taken into NAPTIP’s custody, adding that the act started when the girl was eight years old.
The pastor, according to Nwanwenne, had invited her to his house to help wash dishes with the approval of the victim’s mother who was alive at the time and a member of the church.
He said the pastor took advantage of his wife’s absence to rape the victim.
He further explained that the victim was later taken away to stay with the second suspect, a native doctor, who was a guardian to her.
The zonal commander alleged that the guardian repeatedly raped the victim in his bedroom and added that the herbalist blamed his act on frustration and drunkenness.
According to him, the victim was later rescued by her aunt who enrolled her in a school.
Nwanwenne said the suspects would be arraigned at the end of investigation.
