Editor’s note: This article contains court details of alleged sexual assaults.
A former church pastor in Scotland has been convicted of sexually assaulting two women, including a parishioner he claimed was possessed by demons. Walter Masocha, 61, was found guilty of multiple offenses committed over six years while leading an international religious organization he founded.
A jury at the High Court in Livingston this week convicted Masocha, originally from Zimbabwe, of attempted rape, indecent assault and sexual assault against one woman, as well as indecent assault against another, The U.K. Times reported.
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He was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing scheduled for July 28, where the judge said his name was likely to remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely due to the length and nature of his offenses.
The first woman, now 39, testified that Masocha began abusing her when she was 20 and living in Stirling. She said Masocha told her repeatedly that God had given her to him and that she didn’t need a boyfriend.
During church “surgeries,” he would say he had been instructed by God to love her in whatever way she wanted to be loved. She recounted how the abuse began with Masocha forcing his tongue into her mouth, slapping her backside and ultimately attempting to rape her after pulling down her trousers and underwear in his bedroom.
She said she froze at the time but managed to break free and run away.
On another occasion, she said he placed her hand on his penis over his clothing at his mansion in Sauchieburn. The house, worth £500,000 (over $682,700), was used for many of his so-called healing sessions.
The victim’s husband also gave evidence, telling the court they confronted Masocha following the Zimbabwean tradition of seeking accountability from elders. Masocha responded by prostrating himself on the floor and asked them to pray for him, saying, “I’m sorry I loved you too much.”
The second woman, aged 58, told the court that about two decades earlier, she had approached Masocha to pray for her husband’s immigration situation. She said he told her God had given her to him as a gift, ordered her to kiss him and groped her private parts under the pretense of casting out demons. He claimed she was receiving blessings in return.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Michael MacIntosh told the jury that Masocha preyed on women who trusted him for spiritual guidance. Masocha, who referred to himself as a prophet, denied all allegations and claimed the women were lying.
Masocha was previously a university lecturer in accounting at Stirling University. In 2007, he founded the Agape for All Nations Church, a Pentecostal ministry that grew to more than 2,000 members across the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and several African countries.
He styled himself as archbishop, claiming a salary equivalent to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and lived what court documents described as a jet-set lifestyle, traveling frequently to visit pastors and preach overseas.
He was referred to by church members as “the prophet,” “the apostle,” and “a man of God.”
The jury convicted Masocha on four charges spanning from January 2006 to July 2012, delivering a majority verdict on attempted rape and unanimous verdicts on the other counts.
Judge Susan Craig revoked his bail immediately, calling his behavior appalling and ordering background reports and a risk assessment to consider an extended sentence.
Though Masocha had no prior convictions at trial, it emerged that he was found guilty in 2015 of similar offenses at the Church of Agape, including groping a church deaconess and touching a schoolgirl under the guise of exorcism. He was sentenced to community service and placed on the sex offenders register, but the conviction was later quashed as a miscarriage of justice.
