Fiji: pastor sentenced to 16 years for raping and assaulting members of his church
Request a correction or replyRecord class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
pastor of a healing-ministry church
Organization
Agape Healing Church Ministry
Archive classification
This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.
The three complainants were members of the defendant's own congregation, and the sentencing judge's remarks identify the betrayal of pastoral trust as the gravamen of the offending.
- Pastoral or clerical authority
- Spiritual healing or treatment
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2020-10-27 · conviction at trial and sentence
High Court of Fiji at Suva (Justice Daniel Goundar). Pastor Waisake Tulavu of the Agape Healing Church Ministry was found guilty of four counts of rape and one of sexual assault against three women, all members of his church, committed between May and September 2018. He was sentenced to 16 years for the rapes and four years concurrent for the sexual assault, with parole eligibility after 12 years. Justice Goundar said that instead of upholding the trust and security of his role as a pastor, his conduct had shocked the public conscience.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- pastoral trust over members of his own congregation
Cited record
Sources
- national broadcaster court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Fiji pastor gets 16 years in jail for sexual assault', RNZ Pacific, Oct. 2020.
New Zealand's public broadcaster reporting the High Court conviction, the sentence, and the judge's remarks on the abuse of pastoral trust.
- national newspaper court reporting verdict report 'Tulavu found guilty of rape and sexual assault', Fijivillage (2020).
Fijian outlet reporting the verdict, the church, and the congregant status of the three complainants.
Source provenance
Source access and integrity log
This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.
- Source and tier basis
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/429207/fiji-pastor-gets-16-years-in-jail-for-sexual-assault Corpus classification: national-broadcaster-court-reporting; evidentiary role: verdict-and-sentencing-report. SHA-256 2277369e6c839780bbde32736fe526e8a1ca340f50f19e7cba04bd27c37b8153
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-20 · Preserved
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
- Source and tier basis
- https://www.fijivillage.com/feature/Tulavu-found-guilty-of-rape-and-sexual-assault-8r45xf/ Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: verdict-report. SHA-256 e80053f23b25bb55341ab5994be96674b2ec89e95d4b53adc0d0218214b89ea6
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-20 · Preserved
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
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Related record
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