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 reports 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 sexual 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 pedophile. 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.’ He also claims the devil made him carry out the abuse.Despite the recording, Oluronbi denied any wrongdoing during the trial, forcing his victims to give evidence against him during nine weeks of legal proceedings.
He even laughed in the witness box while giving his own evidence.
Judge Sarah Buckingham said the real purpose of the ‘spiritual baths’ was to ‘fulfil your insatiable sexual appetite’. Oluronbi and his wife will be required to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Sentencing Oluronbi on Friday, Judge Buckingham said: ‘You claimed that God was instructing you to conduct holy baths.
‘Its real purpose was to fulfil your insatiable sexual appetite.
‘The children feared you and this enabled you to continue your grip.
‘Your offending has had an extreme and severe impact on all of your complainants.
‘Any attempt to suggest otherwise would be without foundation.
‘You abused your position of trust – they trusted you like God.’
The judge continued: ‘You did this because you are an arrogant, selfish and vain man.
‘In my judgment, your offending must be one of the worst cases of sexual abuse of multiple children to come before the courts.’
One of his victims, now an adult, had come forward to help bring Oluronbi to justice.
In statements read to the court by the prosecution, one of the victims said the defendant’s actions made her ‘question if my life was worth living’.
Jurors also heard Oluronbi was linked to a Christian church in Edgbaston, Birmingham, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, whose roots were in Nigeria.
He set up his own splinter group for about 40 adults and children, separate from the church and located at another address, where he began a practice of ‘spiritual bathing’.
The offences took place in Birmingham and London.
Phil Bradley QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the main tactic he employed was to claim that God had instructed him to administer ‘holy baths’ to some of his congregation to ‘cleanse’ them and protect them from evil influences.
He added that for some of the female victims, it ‘progressed to repeated rapes, on many occasions leading to unwanted pregnancies and terminations’. Oluronbi’s victims described him as ‘controlling’ and ‘almost like a king’.
The offending happened over a period of 20 years, at various locations, going back to the 1980s.
Oluronbi was arrested at Birmingham Airport in May last year, while trying to leave the country for Nigeria with some of his ceremonial belongings and a sum of cash.
Police are unable to say whether he was trying to flee justice, but pointed out he had recently been confronted about the abuse by one of his victims
