A PERVERT Zimbabwean pastor based in the UK who groped a deaconess and molested a schoolgirl has dodged a jail term. Victims’ relatives re...
A PERVERT Zimbabwean pastor based in the UK who groped a deaconess and molested a schoolgirl has dodged a jail term.
Victims’ relatives reacted with fury outside court Tuesday after cult leader Walter Masocha escaped with community service and only a year on the sex offenders’ register.
Angry former followers hurled abuse at the self-styled Prophet, with one victim’s mother screaming: “Paedophile!” according to Scotland’s Daily Record.
The 51-year-old, who founded the Agape for All Nations church, was flanked by minders and wife Judith, dubbed ‘the Prophetess’, as he tried to make a quick getaway.
But his escape was delayed as his car was blocked in by a bin lorry outside Falkirk Sheriff Court.
The deaconess, who cannot be named, said she was in “total shock” about the sentence.
“He molested me and now he walks free,” she said tearfully.
“So many other women who he has attacked will now not come forward because they are scared of what may happen.
“These women will think, what is the point? I do not know what planet this is but it is wrong.”
Zimbabwe-born Masocha was convicted of two sex offences in April.
The pastor, a former accountancy lecturer at Stirling University, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the deaconess of the church.
He was also convicted of kissing and caressing a 14-year-old girl at the church’s base at Cosyneuk House, Sauchieburn in Scotland.
The offences were committed between January 2012 and January 2014.
Masocha was cleared of inducing a 13-year-old girl to massage his naked body with oils.
Another charge that he acted inappropriately with her sister was also dropped.
The court heard her family has since re-joined Agape church.
Sheriff Kenneth McGowan acknowledged that Masocha’s victims would have been left “hurt and bewildered” by his offences.
And he said the pervert suffered a “spectacular fall from grace”.
He continued: “You touched each of the complainers inappropriately on several occasions.
"At the time they were both members of a church of which you were leader.
“You held a position of trust which you abused, and a further aggravating factor in relation to one of the victims is her relatively young age.”
But he said he could only hit Masocha with jail time when no other sentence was appropriate.
He said: “There are many cases where the gravity of the offences are such that a custodial sentence is inevitable.
“Without in any way seeking to downplay the severity of the offences in this case, my view is that this is not the position here.”
Masocha was given a 12-month community payback order, requiring 250 hours’ community service.
He will also be on the sex offenders’ register for a year.
He was supported by family and followers in court.
Victims outraged
He refused to comment after proceedings.
His 32-year-old victim said: “Masocha goes home to his mansion that he paid for with my money, with the money he took from vulnerable people, to sleep on his king-size bed, to be driven by a chauffeur...
“I am utterly distraught. But I am a fighter and I will keep fighting this man.”
The mother of the 14-year-old girl also hit out as she left court.
She said: “We have gone through this court case for 16 months just to hear that he got community service.
“What will it take for a paedophile to go to jail? Does he have to rape someone?
“We are going home with this pain while he and his followers will be going home to celebrate.
“The worst of this is that this sentence says to his people in the church that their God is real.”
Self-styled prophet Masocha claimed he was instructed by God in a vision to establish his church – Stirling-based Agape For All Nations Ministries International.
Agape, a registered charity, raked in more than £3.3million from mostly African followers in the last four years.
He and his wife say they were each paid around £40,000 a year - while former members claim they took a lot more in the form of ‘love offerings’.
The Record reported in April how many disgruntled former members labelled the church as a “cult” and that they were financially abused by the so-called Archbishop Masocha.
Church hit by scandal
They also claimed bizarre faith healings ceremonies encourages some zealous followers to throw away vital medication to be healed by the pastor.
Ex-cult members also revealed that some of the rags used to collect his sweat were later considered “blessed by the prophet”.
Agape was hit by scandal when it emerged that former member Farai Chirashi cut her five-year-old son Scott’s heart out after she was shunned by the church.
Last December, Chirashi, also from Zimbabwe, killed her son Scott and removed his heart at their home in Alva, Clackmannanshire.
She was found not guilty by reason of insanity at the High Court in Glasgow this month.
The court heard how Chirashi was in the grip of mental illness and believed she was “on a mission from God” when she killed her son.
Friends claimed she was left isolated after separating from her husband Tichakunda Chiriseri over his deepening involvement with Agape.
Victims’ relatives reacted with fury outside court Tuesday after cult leader Walter Masocha escaped with community service and only a year on the sex offenders’ register.
Angry former followers hurled abuse at the self-styled Prophet, with one victim’s mother screaming: “Paedophile!” according to Scotland’s Daily Record.
The 51-year-old, who founded the Agape for All Nations church, was flanked by minders and wife Judith, dubbed ‘the Prophetess’, as he tried to make a quick getaway.
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| Spared a term in jail ... Agape church leader Walter Masocha leaves court Tuesday |
The deaconess, who cannot be named, said she was in “total shock” about the sentence.
“He molested me and now he walks free,” she said tearfully.
“So many other women who he has attacked will now not come forward because they are scared of what may happen.
“These women will think, what is the point? I do not know what planet this is but it is wrong.”
Zimbabwe-born Masocha was convicted of two sex offences in April.
The pastor, a former accountancy lecturer at Stirling University, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the deaconess of the church.
He was also convicted of kissing and caressing a 14-year-old girl at the church’s base at Cosyneuk House, Sauchieburn in Scotland.
The offences were committed between January 2012 and January 2014.
Masocha was cleared of inducing a 13-year-old girl to massage his naked body with oils.
Another charge that he acted inappropriately with her sister was also dropped.
The court heard her family has since re-joined Agape church.
Sheriff Kenneth McGowan acknowledged that Masocha’s victims would have been left “hurt and bewildered” by his offences.
And he said the pervert suffered a “spectacular fall from grace”.
He continued: “You touched each of the complainers inappropriately on several occasions.
"At the time they were both members of a church of which you were leader.
“You held a position of trust which you abused, and a further aggravating factor in relation to one of the victims is her relatively young age.”
But he said he could only hit Masocha with jail time when no other sentence was appropriate.
He said: “There are many cases where the gravity of the offences are such that a custodial sentence is inevitable.
“Without in any way seeking to downplay the severity of the offences in this case, my view is that this is not the position here.”
Masocha was given a 12-month community payback order, requiring 250 hours’ community service.
He will also be on the sex offenders’ register for a year.
He was supported by family and followers in court.
Victims outraged
He refused to comment after proceedings.
His 32-year-old victim said: “Masocha goes home to his mansion that he paid for with my money, with the money he took from vulnerable people, to sleep on his king-size bed, to be driven by a chauffeur...
“I am utterly distraught. But I am a fighter and I will keep fighting this man.”
The mother of the 14-year-old girl also hit out as she left court.
She said: “We have gone through this court case for 16 months just to hear that he got community service.
“What will it take for a paedophile to go to jail? Does he have to rape someone?
“We are going home with this pain while he and his followers will be going home to celebrate.
“The worst of this is that this sentence says to his people in the church that their God is real.”
Self-styled prophet Masocha claimed he was instructed by God in a vision to establish his church – Stirling-based Agape For All Nations Ministries International.
Agape, a registered charity, raked in more than £3.3million from mostly African followers in the last four years.
He and his wife say they were each paid around £40,000 a year - while former members claim they took a lot more in the form of ‘love offerings’.
The Record reported in April how many disgruntled former members labelled the church as a “cult” and that they were financially abused by the so-called Archbishop Masocha.
Church hit by scandal
They also claimed bizarre faith healings ceremonies encourages some zealous followers to throw away vital medication to be healed by the pastor.
Ex-cult members also revealed that some of the rags used to collect his sweat were later considered “blessed by the prophet”.
Agape was hit by scandal when it emerged that former member Farai Chirashi cut her five-year-old son Scott’s heart out after she was shunned by the church.
Last December, Chirashi, also from Zimbabwe, killed her son Scott and removed his heart at their home in Alva, Clackmannanshire.
She was found not guilty by reason of insanity at the High Court in Glasgow this month.
The court heard how Chirashi was in the grip of mental illness and believed she was “on a mission from God” when she killed her son.
Friends claimed she was left isolated after separating from her husband Tichakunda Chiriseri over his deepening involvement with Agape.
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