Creflo Dollar uses pulpit to deny assaulting daughter

Megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar strenuously denied assaulting his daughter as he took to the pulpit on Sunday to preach his regular sermon.

Dollar’s 15-year-old daughter called the police at around 1am on Friday accusing her father of punching and choking her.

Police charged him with misdemeanour counts of simple battery and cruelty to children.

Addressing his congregation at the World Changers Church International, in Atlanta, Georgia, the pastor admitted arguing with his daughter but insisted that the allegations outlined in a police report were “exaggeration and sensationalism”.

“I will say this emphatically: I should have never been arrested,” he said.

“I want you all to hear personally from me that all is well in the Dollar household,” he added.

The police report details how Dollar hit his 15-year-old daughter with his shoe, slapped her in the face and choked her. Her testimony is corroborated by his 19-year-old daughter who was there at the time.

A mark on the 15-year-old’s neck was noted by the police, but Dollar claimed this was an abrasion from eczema.

“The truth is that a family conversation with our youngest daughter got emotional and emotions got involved and things escalated from there,” said Dollar.

“The truth is she was not choked, she was not punched. There were not any scratches on her neck. But the only thing on her neck was a prior skin abrasion from eczema. Anything else is exaggeration and sensationalism.”

According to the Associated Press, Dollar received a standing ovation from his congregation as he took to the pulpit.

The World Changers church has around 30,000 members in the Atlanta area. There are additional satellite churches in the US, and TV and online broadcasts of Dollar’s sermons worldwide.