An evangelical Nigerian pastor based in the UK, Michael Oluronbi, 60, has been jailed for 34 years after he was convicted of multiple rapes of members of his congregation.
A jury heard that some of his female victims became pregnant multiple times. He was also found to have used his position to abuse children and adults over 20 years.
According to Mail Online, Oluronbi, originally from Nigeria and living in Birmingham, was found guilty of the offences against six women and a man in January, actions described by a judge as ‘one of the worst cases of sexual abuse of multiple children to come before the courts’.
Some of his offences were carried out after he convinced victims, five of whom attended his church, to take part in ‘spiritual bathing’, which he claimed would ‘cleanse’ them of evil spirits.
During the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, a jury heard that some of his young female victims who became pregnant multiple times were taken to abortion clinics by qualified pharmacist Oluronbi, to cover up what was happening.
He was convicted of 15 counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of s3xual assault.
The jury heard that there were at least 88 separate occasions on which he raped his victims.
His wife, Juliana, was convicted of three counts of aiding and abetting rape after helping arrange some of the terminations. She was also jailed for 11 years for helping her husband.
‘Everything was my fault’ admits pastor in video confession
In a confession videoed last year by a victim’s family member who had confronted him, the pastor is heard saying: ‘Everything was just my fault, and as I said before, I wasn’t meant to be human.
“I wasn’t meant to live under the roof of any human being and I said that I was an animal.’
The footage was released by West Midlands Police after the trial.
The victim’s relative is then heard, off-camera, asking the pastor: ‘You know I said that you are a paedophile? Everyone knows that you’re a paedophile. You know that that’s the name they give to your type?’
Oluronbi, who appears on camera in a formal shirt and tie speaking animatedly, raising his hands but with his eyes shut, then replies: ‘Fine.’
