34-year-old Pastor Emmanuel of Eagles Prophetic Gospel Centre, Gombe State, has been arrested for using a hot electric iron to burn a 10-year-old boy in different parts of his body.
According to a report by Sun newspaper, the cleric claims that his victim, Daniel James, is the son of an ex-prostitute who became a born again Christian as a result of a preaching outreach by his church.
“The 10-year-old boy committed a crime of stealing, which has been his habitual character. So, on that day, I took another dimension of punishment; I used electric iron to threaten him and it burnt him,” he revealed.
He added that he took the kid to live with him after the church helped his mother find a place to live and a business to sustain herself and her elder son who is 19-year-old.
“They lived close to an Almajiri School and the boy always had a problem with the Almajiris. So, I took him to live with me. I made a mistake of not reporting him to the police.
I always report his character to the mother before I decide to punish him on my own. In the church, everybody knows me to be a very disciplined man,” the pastor said.