Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, on Wednesday lambasted a pastor and his wife for ‘using the name of God and church to defraud people.’
The judge made the statement while convicting and sentencing the couple, Pastor Harry Uyanwanne and his wife, Oluwakemi Odemuyiwa (a.k.a Kristein Uyanwanne) over N52 million fraud.
The couple were the owners of a church, Temple International Church.
The convicts were dragged before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on fraud charges.
In her judgment, Justice Dada also ordered that their Church be deregistered and closed down for ‘using the name of God and the church to defraud people.’
In the charge, the anti-graft agency had accused the convict of stealing, dishonest conversion, false presentation and fraud. It was a seven count charge.
During their arraignment on February 25, 2020, the couple had pleaded not guilty to the offences.
At the trial, five witnesses were called by the prosecution led by Babatunde Sonoiki, while the convicts called two witnesses.
The prosecution had told the court the convicts committed the offence in March 2016, when they ‘dishonestly converted the sum of N10 million which belonged to one late Mrs. Janet Adeola Odemuyiwa.
They also sold a property known at Plot 32, Block 9, Magodo Residential Scheme 1, Ikeja Local Government to one Mr. Kingsley Atere for the sum of N42 million claiming that the first convict was authorised to sell the property by the bonafide owner, the late Mrs. Odemuyiwa.
In her judgment, Justice Dada found that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the convicts were guilty of the offences.
She therefore sentenced them to three years imprisonment on count one, while on count two to six, the first convict, Harry Uyanwanne, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
The second convict (Odemuyiwa) was sentenced to three years imprisonment, but the court discharged and acquitted them on count seven.
In all, Uyanwanne was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment while Odemuyiwa (a.k.a Kristein Uyanwanne) was sentenced to six years.
“Using the name of God and church to defraud people, I order that the third convict should be deregistered and closed down,” she said.
The judge further ordered the convicts to return the sum of N31 million to the nominal complainant within 60 days of the judgment.