Michael Oluronbi, a 60-year-old evangelical Nigerian pastor residing in the UK, has been sentenced to 34 years in prison following his conviction for multiple counts of raping 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 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 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.’

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.

Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, US outlet ABC News has reported, citing a US official.

Iran’s Fars news agency said explosions were heard at an airport in the Iranian city of Isafahan but the cause was not immediately known. Several flights were diverted over Iranian airspace, CNN reported.

Over the weekend, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.

Most of the drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory.

Iran told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the UN secretary-general warned that the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril”.

Israel had said it was going to retaliate against Iran’s April 13 missile and drone attack.

Patrick Clancy, the father of three children who were allegedly strangled by their mother, has honoured their memory after crossing the Boston Marathon finish line.

‘They had short lives – but they had good lives,’ Clancy said as he completed the famous 26.2-mile course through the Massachusetts capital while raising more than $75,000 for the hospital, which treated them.

‘I love my kids. They’re wonderful people. They had a lot of friends, everybody loved them,’ Clancy, 33, added after he accomplished the iconic race in 3:59:19 Monday.

According to Daily mail on Tuesday, the marathon served as therapy for Clancy, whose partner, depressed midwife Lindsay Clancy, allegedly killed their three kids in January 2023.

Lindsay is accused of using exercise bands to strangle Cora, five, Dawson, three, and baby Callan in the basement of their Duxbury, MA home, while Clancy briefly left to pick up a takeaway.

After allegedly strangling her children, Lindsay attempted to take her own life by slashing her wrists and jumping out of an upstairs bedroom window. Despite surviving, she was left paralyzed from the waist down and continues to undergo treatment.

Clancy forgave his wife, attributing her actions to postpartum psychosis.

Postpartum psychosis, according to the National Institutes of Health, is a severe mental illness marked by extreme confusion, detachment from reality, paranoia, delusions, disorganized thinking, and hallucinations.

It typically arises within the first six weeks after childbirth and requires immediate medical and psychiatric intervention, especially if there is a risk of suicide or harm to the baby (filicide).

“On his donation page for Boston Children’s Hospital, Clancy said, ‘In the short time they were here, my kids brought me so much joy and couldn’t have made their dad prouder.'”

‘In many ways, I’m just trying to be more like them. Their passion in life was infectious.’

‘With Cora, Dawson, and Callan in spirit, see you at the finish line,’ he said in an update just before the marathon kicked off on Monday.

Clancy stated that the funds raised through his fundraiser are earmarked for “the very best medical care, breakthrough research, and vital support services for sick kids and their families.”

In October, Lindsay was held without bail and committed to psychiatric care because a judge deemed her “at imminent risk of self-harm.”

Lindsay pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and strangulation.

Lindsay was arraigned on February 7 from her Brigham and Women’s Hospital bed, and her next court date is scheduled for May 28.