Nigerian pastor and his wife sentenced to 34 years in prison for raping church members for over 20 years

Nigerian pastor Michael Oluronbi and his wife Juliana were given 34 years in jail by a court in the UK after Oluronbi was found guilty of sexual assaults on six women and one guy.

TopNaija gathered that this supposed man of God abused kids and people for more than 20 years after getting them to take part in “spiritual bathing” to get rid of bad spirits.

Olurnobi was sent to prison for 34 years for raping several people in his community.

He was found guilty of “fifteen counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault, and two counts of sexual assault.” He also raped his victims at least 88 times.

As a way to hide the fact that she was abusing them, Oluronbi would take some of the women who got pregnant more than once to abortion clinics, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

His wife got 11 years in prison for three counts of helping to commit rape because she helped Olurnobi set up abortions for the victims.

Both of the accused will have to sign the sex offenders’ record for the rest of their lives.

There was a link between Oluronbi and the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Edgbaston, Birmingham. This church had roots in Nigeria. Having set up his own separate group at a different address, he began the “spiritual bathing” from there. The crime scenes were shown to the judges in Birmingham and London.

Sentencing “arrogant” 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.”

When confronted about his offences, Oluronbi said “The devil made me do it”.

Phil Bradley QC, prosecuting, told the jury:

“The Crown’s case is that Mr Oluronbi used what he called ‘spiritual work’ as a subterfuge for that sexual abuse. The main tactic he employed was to claim that God had instructed him to administer ‘holy baths’ to some of his congregation in order to ‘cleanse’ them and protect them from evil influences. That activity began when his victims were children. There can be no doubt that its real purpose was to serve his sexual gratification.”

He added that for some of the female victims the offending “progressed to repeated rapes, on many occasions leading to unwanted pregnancies and terminations”.

“You will learn that this man, who was revered and feared by his victims, kept a vice-like grip on many of them and continued to abuse them well into adulthood.”

The victims described him as “controlling” and “almost like a king”.

Oluronbi was arrested in May 2023, at Birmingham Airport while trying to leave the UK for Nigeria.