Burkina Faso: self-styled pastor convicted of raping a 10-year-old brought to him for deliverance prayer to treat epilepsy

Proceedings

1. 2026-06-19 · conviction

   Criminal Chamber, Tribunal de grande instance (TGI) de Fada N'Gourma, Burkina Faso. On 19 June 2026 the Criminal Chamber of the Fada N'Gourma high court convicted the defendant of aggravated rape of a minor and sentenced him to 11 years' imprisonment (of which 3 years without remission/hard labor) plus a 2 million CFA franc fine. The victim's parents, seeking treatment for her epilepsy, had brought her to him from age 10 for prayer/deliverance sessions. She testified he first assaulted her on 26 June 2025 and again on 30 June 2025. At trial he initially denied the second assault by pointing to a false-positive pregnancy test, then recanted that defense when medical examination proved negative; a medical exam confirmed the absence of her hymen. He was in his fifties, married with two children.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• presenting himself as a healer/man of God able to treat the child's epilepsy through prayer, which is how her parents came to bring her to him for repeated sessions
• claim during the assaults that his own demonic possession, not his own will, was responsible for his conduct — turning the same spiritual framework used to recruit the family into a post-hoc excuse