Roraima Pastors Indicted for Sexual Abuse of Six Girls as Court Orders Preventive Arrest

Overview

• The Polícia Civil’s child-protection unit indited pastors Wenderson Lima de Souza and Arielly Kamila Moraes de Souza on July 15–16 after an inquiry that began with an April complaint and identified at least six victims aged 12–17.
• Investigators say the couple used their pastoral roles and scriptural claims to convince girls that sexual acts had a spiritual purpose and offered money, meals and other incentives to keep them silent.
• The court issued preventive arrest warrants for both pastors, who are now fugitives and whose whereabouts are uncertain but were reported by authorities as possibly linked to Manaus.
• Police say the church’s founding documents gave the pastor disciplinary power that threatened expulsion for dissent, a structure the inquiry says helped intimidate victims and deter reporting.
• The probe also indited a 20-year-old for destroying phone evidence and will be forwarded to the Ministério Público for possible prosecution while the defence seeks access to the case files to respond to the arrest request.