Choirmaster gets 25 years for raping teenager during deliverance
An Anambra State High Court has sentenced a choirmaster to 25 years in prison for raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl during a deliverance session.
An Anambra State High Court in Ogidi has sentenced a choirmaster, James Onuorah, to 25 years in prison for raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl during a deliverance session. The court also sentenced the defendant to seven years for offensive conduct. The judgement was delivered on Friday, 17 July.
The prosecution told the court that Onuorah, as a choir master and church teacher at Iba Pope Catholic Parish in Awada near Onitsha, deceived the victim’s mother that all her daughters were possessed by “marine spirits and spiritual husbands” and needed deliverance at his home. Relying on this, the mother allowed her daughters to attend prayer sessions at the defendant’s residence. The prosecution further stated that the defendant exploited his position of spiritual authority, luring the 16-year-old victim to his altar. He ordered her to strip naked, claiming it was “the direction of the Holy Spirit,” went further to collect her menstrual blood and ovulation discharge, then had sexual intercourse with her, claiming that a “spiritual husband” had caused fibroids in her womb and that the only cure was sex with him. The victim became pregnant and delivered a baby in April 2026.
During the trial, the prosecution called four witnesses, including the victim’s elder sister and the victim herself. The defendant denied committing the offences. However, the trial judge, Chudi Nwankwo, held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The judge found that the testimony of the victim was “direct, consistent and unshaken under cross-examination” and that the circumstantial evidence, including the pregnancy and delivery, corroborated her account. The judge convicted Onuorah of rape and offensive conduct but discharged him on a third count relating to the victim’s elder sister, citing lack of evidence.
Sentencing Onuorah to 25 years for rape and seven years for offensive conduct, to run concurrently, the judge also awarded N5 million in compensation to the victim.
The case exposes the devastating exploitation of spiritual authority in Nigeria. Religious leaders have long held significant influence in Nigerian society, and cases like this one demonstrate how that trust can be abused. The conviction and sentence send a strong signal that the courts will not tolerate such abuse, but the underlying problem, the vulnerability of young people to spiritual manipulation, remains.
This echoes the 2020s cases of sexual abuse by religious figures in Nigeria, which have increasingly come to light as survivors have found the courage to speak out. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: a pattern of abuse that the justice system is slowly beginning to address.
The winners: the victim, who has received justice; and the Nigerian justice system, which has demonstrated its willingness to convict even powerful religious figures. The losers: the defendant, who will spend decades in prison; and the church, which faces reputational damage.
Bottom Line: A choirmaster has been jailed for raping a teenage girl during a deliverance session. He claimed the Holy Spirit directed him. The court disagreed. The message is clear: spiritual authority is not a licence to abuse.