Nigerian Pastor, 60, Jailed 34 Years for Raping, Impregnating Children

A pastor has been jailed for 34 years for raping children during his twisted reign as leader of a ‘voodoo-like cult’.

Michael Oluronbi, from Birmingham, preyed on young girls as young as nine, with four becoming pregnant several times.

Some of them were taken to abortion clinics or administered drugs for a termination by Oluronbi, who is a qualified pharmacist.

The self-styled prophet raped some of the girls after stripping them of their clothes for ‘spiritual bathing’ to ‘cleanse’ them of evil spirits.

Sickeningly, he even told some of his victims the abuse would help them with their school grades.

He was convicted of 15 counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault, after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in January.

The abuse took place over a period of 20 years.

The 60-year-old’s wife Juliana Oluronbi, 58, was convicted of three counts of aiding and abetting rape after helping arrange some of the terminations.

On some occasions, she also carried out the ‘spiritual baths’, assisting her husband in the abuse.

The pastor was jailed for 34 years, while his wife was handed an 11-year prison sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court today (Friday).

A former member of Oluronbi’s Imole Ayo group previously told Birmingham Live it was a ‘voodoo-like cult’.

He added: “He (Oluronbi) is controlling and manipulative. He would use the name of God to remove the father, then manipulate the mother into forming a relationship of a sexual manner in an attempt to abuse the children.

“And all in the name of God. On the surface, he appears very nice and willing to help anyone.

“What he kept well hidden was his fixation with abusing innocent children and grooming children.

“The things he did, the voodoo – and things like drinking perfume are like voodoo – could be done because there was no authority.

“He was an evil influence, but he has been punished for what he’s done, and rightly so. I believe that what you reap, you will sow.”

In a confession filmed last year by a victim’s family member who had confronted him, the “feared” 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.

Oluronbi and his wife will be sentenced at a later date.

• Daily Independent