PREACHER TO HANG IN NIGERIA FOR BURNING FOLLOWERS

a Nigerian court sentenced a Nigerian evangelical preacher to death by hanging after finding him guilty of dousing seven members of his congregation with petrol and setting them ablaze, killing one. Emeka Ezeuko, known by his followers as Reverend King, had denied the six-count charge against him. Prosecution witnesses told the court Ezeuko had tortured them in his Lagos home to force them to confess to fornication, then set them alight as a punishment for their sins. Two witnesses said Ezeuko had repeatedly abused them sexually. One said she usually served him his meals naked and she had had four abortions after Ezeuko made her pregnant.