By Belize Live News Staff: A man who once led the National Evangelical Association of Belize is now serving a 10 year sentence at the Belize Central Prison.
Victor Wagner Hernandez, 67, pastor of the Toledo Faith Outreach Christian Center in Punta Gorda, was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against a woman who worshipped under him.
The abuse ran from 2015 to 2021. The rapes happened at his business and his home. The sexual assault happened inside the church itself, with the woman’s teenage daughter present.
Police heard that he used his standing as her spiritual leader to keep her quiet, and threatened to accuse her of theft if she spoke.
High Court Justice Antoinette Moore handed down the sentence on Monday. The individual counts added up to 22 years on paper, but she ordered them served at the same time, weighing his clean record, his age and his health, which includes a stroke, hypertension and Type II diabetes.
The sentence runs from his conviction date of August 3.
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