Rev. King To Die By Hanging By Henry Ojelu, Lois Okereke & Olumide Banjo/1.30 p.m.
Like the Biblical saying that the wages of sin is death, and so for murdering a member of his church, Pastor Reverend Chukwu Emeka Ezayo a.k.a Rev. King is to die by hanging. An Ikeja High court, presided by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, this morning, found the bearded General Overseer of Christian Praying Assembly (CPA) guilty of murder charges preferred against him by the police. The court ruled that he should die by hanging. Justice Oyewole found the cleric guilty on the first 5-count charge and sentenced him to prison for 20 years on each count.
On the sixth count, the judge found him guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging. Rev. King was first arraigned at an Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s Court along with two other persons on a 12-count charge of murder and attempted murder of seven of his church members on 2 July, 2006. The matter was, however, transferred to the Ikeja High court on the advice of the Directorate for Public Prosecution (DPP) on the ground that the magistrate’s court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case since it involved a capital offence. In September last year when the matter commenced de novo, Rev. King pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge brought against him by the DPP but was denied bail by the presiding judge justice Olubunmi Oyewole.
The prosecution led by Mrs. Bola Ighile called about 12 witnesses amongst who were some victims of Rev. King alleged callous act. They included Olisa Chiejina, Chizoba, Uche Chukwu Iwoba, Vivian Ezeocha, Bunmi Olisa and Nwere Jesica. In their evidence in chief, they told the court how on 2 July, 2006 at Canal View Street, Ajao Estate, Rev. King set fire on seven of them over an allegation that they were committing fornication in his house. Vivian Ezeocha and Kelechi King, the principal witnesses narrated to the court how the accused turned them to sex toys by subjecting them to inhuman sex orgies.
Kelechi King in her gory account told the court how she had aborted four pregnancies for the heavily bearded self-acclaimed “God”. She also told the court some startling revelations of how the accused made her denounce her family and how she served him as his maid stark naked. On the incident that lead to the death of Ann King, almost all the prosecution witnesses corroborated the fact that Rev. King actually set them on fire by pouring fuel on them. They also told the court that on the said date, Rev. King gathered them together in his house over allegations that they were committing fornication in his house, an allegation they all denied.
They further affirmed that as a way of punishing them, Rev. King poured fuel on them and set them ablaze. Another prosecution witness Olisa Chiejina, told the court how the accused operated a “Lord Army”, an outfit he said Rev. King uses intimidate and harass members of his church. In his defence, over six witnesses disputed the allegations brought against Rev. King by painting a picture of how good and fatherly the accused is. At the conclusion of trial which lasted a record 104 days, the defence counsel led by Mr. Mike Okoye urged the court to discharge and acquit Rev. King on the ground that the evidences before the court did not in any way link his client to the death of Ann King.
He told the court that the allegations against his client were only a set-up by the police who were petitioned for stealing about N5 million when they raided his house. The prosecution counsel, however, insisted that Rev. King had a ca
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