via How sex shame ‘prophet’ did it – NewsDay Zimbabwe May 18, 2015
LONDON — Shamed preacher Walter Masocha, who is based in Scotland, abused the trust of women in his flock, who literally worshipped the ground he walked on.
A disillusioned member of his church told how he surrounded himself with women he called Daddy’s Dancing Girls and would give them flannels soaked in his sweat as gifts.
Zimbabwe-born Masocha, founder of the Stirling-based Agape for All Nations Church, will be sentenced tomorrow after being convicted of two sex charges.
A six-day trial heard he groped a deaconess while he was supposed to be praying for her stomach complaint and put his hand down a schoolgirl’s trousers saying he was trying to remove demons.
When the 32-year-old victim told her husband, also a member of the church, he told her: “The prophet is seeing something in your genitals that needs to be removed, so he was removing that.”
Church members later tried to have her sectioned.
But a former member said suspicions were raised over Zimbabwe-born Masocha’s behaviour in 2008.
The preacher sparked concern after regularly inviting women worshippers to private “surgeries” held in his bedroom, but banned their husbands from attending.
One churchgoer, who is still a member of church, said: “He was obviously behaving inappropriately at this point.”
The church has worshippers from all over the UK, but the Stirling congregation was seen as its lynchpin.
One witness said: “The women were literally at his feet. They were known as Daddy’s Dancing Girls.
“It wasn’t healthy, they thought he was anointed.”
The church member now believes Masocha preyed on vulnerable people to set up his church.
Former Stirling University lecturer Masocha, who was paid by the church, has also been accused of putting pressure on his followers to part with their cash.
In April, a jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court convicted Masocha of sexually assaulting the deaconess and sexually touching the teen.
Masocha had earlier been cleared of two other charges, including one of sexual behaviour with a 13-year-old girl. — Daily Record
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