Scotland: self-styled archbishop jailed for sexual assaults on congregants he told he was 'casting out demons'

Proceedings

1. Date in cited record · conviction

   High Court of Justiciary, Livingston, Scotland (Judge Susan Craig). Walter Masocha, Zimbabwean-born founder of Agape for All Nations Ministries International in Stirling and a former University of Stirling accountancy academic, was convicted on four charges arising between January 2006 and July 2012: attempted rape (by majority verdict) and indecent assault and sexual assault against a first woman, and indecent assault against a second, all unanimous. The jury returned its verdicts after short deliberation. He told the women God had given them to him and that physical contact was him 'casting out demons', presenting the assaults as blessings.

2. 2025-07-29 · sentence

   High Court of Justiciary, Livingston, Scotland. Masocha was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment with a further four years of supervision on release — reported by some outlets as a fourteen-year extended sentence — together with non-harassment orders and indefinite sex-offender registration. The judge described his conduct as appalling.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• sexual contact presented to the women as 'casting out demons' and as 'blessings'
• claim of divine instruction that God had given the women to him
• standing as founder of the church the victims belonged to