A False Prophet Exposed: Michael Oluronbi and wife convicted
Nigerian pastor Michael Oluronbi and his wife Juliana have been sentenced to a combined 49 years in prison in the UK, six years after being arrested for sexual offences.
60-year-old Michael Oluronbi was accused of abusing children and adults for more than 20 years. The Nigerian clergyman would bait his worshippers with a type of “spiritual bathing” that would rid them of evil spirits.
These spiritual bathing sessions would often turn to rape, and several of his victims became pregnant in the process. Oluronbi, aided by his wife Juliana (58), conducted several abortions for his victims. He would check in on the children in different clinics under false names. This abuse went on for several years until one of his victims approached the police.
In footage recorded by a relative of one of his victims, the pastor could be 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 later released by the West Midlands police after his trial.
The Oluronbi’s trial
During the trial, Pastor Oluronbi denied any wrongdoing, forcing his victims to testify against him in court. Judge Buckingham, who presided over the case, said Oluronbi was arrogant and vain and deemed his offences one of the worst cases of sexual abuse against children to ever come before the court. Confronted with the judge’s words, Oluronbi said the devil had made him do it.
The court convicted Micahel Oluronbi 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 to arrange some of the abortions. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Victims’ statement
The actions of the Nigerian clergyman have had an extreme and severe impact on the lives of his victims. In statements read to the court, one of the victims, now in her thirties, said:
“I used to eat soap until I was physically sick so I could get rid of this man’s mark on me inside and out.” A third woman said she no longer attended church: “I don’t think I can ever place my faith in religion again. I trusted him,” she said, “because he was like God on earth.”.
Michael Oluronbi was affiliated with the Cherubim and Seraphim church in Edgbaston, Birmingham, before setting up his splinter group at a different address.
The pastor was arrested in May 2018 at Birmingham Airport when attempting to flee to Nigeria, shortly after a victim confronted him. He and his wife have now been convicted, six years after their arrest.
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Content Credit/ Ajibola Emmanuel Adebayo
Picture Credit/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-51064219
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