The Provincial Court of Valencia has sentenced the former leaders of a choir in an evangelical church in a town on the outskirts of Valencia (Spain) to 12 years in prison for the continuous sexual abuse of at least six minors.

The judge found it proven that between 2009 and 2020, the perpetrator (D. R. M.M., a Paraguayan national) took advantage of his role in the church as choir director and the spiritual influence of his parents to gain the trust of the children, whom he repeatedly abused in two homes.

The abuser's father was the pastor of the church and his mother was a ‘prophet,’ according to media outlets such as Levante-EMV, which have been following the case in the region.

The crimes were discovered in 2023 when one of the victims, who had already reached the age of majority, spoke to her sister about what she had experienced, and both found the courage to tell their parents about the abuse they had suffered for six years. After the family reported the case to the authorities, a police investigation uncovered four more victims, one of whom was the abuser's sister-in-law.

Serious abuse taking advantage of spiritual influence

The judge confirmed that the perpetrator abused his position of influence in the church to spend time alone with the victims, whom he touched inappropriately and showed pornographic material. Two other victims, who are also siblings, told the judge that the accused took them to an apartment where he forced them to undress and watch him masturbate.

Another victim suffered sexual abuse from the age of seven.

The trial shows that the total trust of the victims' parents was a key factor in the abuser gaining the children's trust and being able to spend time alone with them.

The judge sentenced the defendant to two years in prison for each of the six cases he confessed to, bringing the total sentence to 12 years.

However, the law states that for crimes of the same nature, a maximum of three sentences can be imposed, meaning that the prison term would be reduced to six years, of which the defendant has already served one in pre-trial detention. The prosecutor in the case had requested a 39-year prison sentence. The court also ordered financial compensation of 27,000 euros.

Evangelical Council: ‘Pain’ and ‘total solidarity with the victims’

In a statement sent to Evangelical Focus, the Evangelical Council of the Valencian Community (CECVA) expressed its solidarity with the victims and its rejection of any type of abuse committed within the framework of any church or evangelical organisation.

The organisation, which represents evangelicals before the regional government, expresses "pain at the events that have taken place and our total empathy and solidarity with the victims", as well as "respect for the court and the sentence handed down".

"In the face of such serious events, both FEREDE and CECVA always recommend reporting them to the police authorities", they state. "May God have mercy on the abuser and may he repent from his heart. May he understand that sexual abuse is incompatible with the Christian faith", the statement adds.

Another case in Terrassa

This new case of child sexual abuse comes after another similar case in Terrassa (Catalonia), where the leadership of the ‘Samaria’ church allegedly covered up similar abuses. Both the Consell Evangèlic de Catalunya (Evangelical Council of Catalonia) and Ferede (Protestant federation on national level) and local churches have condemned the abuses and demanded ‘zero tolerance’ for any signs of abuse in the context of evangelical churches.