Former Evangelical Leader Gets 10-year Prison Sentence

For years, people looked to him for guidance, trust, and spiritual support. Today, that trust lies shattered. Former National Evangelical Association of Belize president Pastor Victor Wagner Hernandez is heading to prison after the High Court found that he used his position of authority to repeatedly sexually abuse a woman who turned to him for counsel. High Court Justice Antoinette Moore sentenced the sixty-seven-year-old pastor to ten years behind bars after convicting him of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. The offences occurred in 2015, 2016, and 2021 while Hernandez served at the Toledo Faith Outreach Christian Center in Punta Gorda. The case began after a thirty-five-year-old woman came forward with a complaint in 2024. During the trial, she gave emotional testimony, telling the court that she had been threatened before reporting the abuse. Justice Moore found her account credible and ultimately convicted Hernandez on all three charges, bringing a high-profile case involving one of Belize’s most prominent evangelical leaders to a close.

 

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