Michael Oluronbi, a 60-year-old evangelical Nigerian pastor based in the UK, has been sentenced to 34 years in prison after being found guilty of multiple rapes of members of his congregation.
The Birmingham Crown Court heard that some of his female victims became pregnant multiple times as a result of his actions. He was also found guilty of abusing children and adults over a period of 20 years.
Originally from Nigeria and residing in Birmingham, Oluronbi was convicted of offenses against six women and a man.
The judge described his actions as “one of the worst cases of sexual abuse of multiple children to come before the courts.” Some of his offenses 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, the jury heard that some of his young female victims who became pregnant multiple times were taken to abortion clinics by 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, with the jury hearing that there were at least 88 separate occasions on which he raped his victims.
His wife, Juliana, was also convicted of three counts of aiding and abetting rape after helping arrange some of the terminations. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison for her involvement.
In a confession videoed by a victim’s family member, Oluronbi admitted his fault, stating, “Everything was just my fault, and as I said before, I wasn’t meant to be human.” He also claimed that 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, during sentencing, said that the real purpose of the ‘spiritual baths’ was to ‘fulfill [Oluronbi’s] insatiable sexual appetite’. Oluronbi and his wife will be required to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Judge Buckingham described Oluronbi as an “arrogant, selfish, and vain man” who abused his position of trust. She stated that his offending was “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, one of the victims said the defendant’s actions made her ‘question if my life was worth living’.
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 offenses took place in Birmingham and London over a period of 20 years, 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 confirm whether he was trying to flee justice, but pointed out he had recently been confronted about the abuse by one of his victims.
