"Pastor" RICHARD ADDO, the 29-year-old man who has been arrested by the Adenta police for inserting his fingers into the private parts of women, has told a court in Accra that God directed him to do so in order to heal them.

Appearing before the Madina Magistrate Court presided over by Rhoda K. Donkor, Richard, who alleged that he belonged to the Word Miracle church at Nungua, said God directed him to do that through a prophecy.

“After receiving the prophecy I contacted some men of God who prayed with me,” he noted.

Richard has been remanded into police custody to reappear on March 3, 2011.

The Word Miracle church has however denied he is a church member or a prophet of their apostolic faith.

Meanwhile, Richard has been identified by two other women who claim the suspect fingered them as well, using the same method.

They stormed the police station after reading the story in the DAILY GUIDE.

One of them is a student at UDS, Wa, in the Upper West region, where the suspect is also said to be a student and the other is a married woman based at Nungua. Their names have however been withheld.

According to information available to DAILY GUIDE, the suspect befriended the two women and frequently invited them for prayers. He asked them to buy olive oil, which he smeared his hands with before inserting them (fingers) into their private parts.

As at press time yesterday, the two persons had given their statements to the Adenta police, bringing the number of complaints against the suspect to seven.

Prophet Richard Addo is said to have confessed to the police that he indeed inserted his fingers into the private parts of the ladies.

It would be recalled that the self-styled man of God was nabbed by the Adenta District Police Command for allegedly inserting his fingers into the private parts of five women under the pretext of praying for them.

Prophet Richard Addo was arrested after one of the women boldly reported the incident to the police.

According to the victims, Prophet Addo charged them various amounts of money ranging between GH¢150 to GH¢200, in addition to inserting his fingers into their vaginas.

One of the victims said she met the suspect in November 2010 on the street when he prophesied to her that he could see a vision in which a baby was crying while walking behind her.

“I then confessed to him that I have had an abortion before and he said that he will help me pray to break that bondage.

We then made an appointment to meet at my hostel for prayers. Later he asked me to give him GH¢150 to purchase olive oil for the deliverance prayers while the remaining balance will also be used as seed money for prayer request,” the victim narrated.

According to her, during a subsequent prayer session, Richard asked her to remove her clothes, after which he rubbed her body with the olive oil and then fingered her.

Another victim also narrated that Richard, after meeting her, prophesied that it had been revealed to him that she was barren.

“He made me pay GH¢200 for olive oil and the rest to be used as prayer request,” she intimated.

She maintained that Richard inserted four fingers into her private parts while praying for her.

When the self-styled man of God was asked to demonstrate how he did it, he narrated that he inserted his four fingers into the women’s vaginas after greasing them with the olive oil.

By Linda Tenyah