A Zimbabwean national named Innocent Majoni, described in court as an elder with the ZAOGA Forward in Faith church, has been handed a 13-year jail term by Leeds Crown Court after being convicted in his absence of rape and sexual assault.
Court records reported by UK media show that the 47-year-old was found guilty on three counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault. Prosecutors told the court that Majoni threatened to get the complainant deported if she did not give in to him.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she lives in fear that Majoni could kill her. Despite the sentence, Majoni did not attend court and is currently wanted by authorities. Business records show Majoni was once a director of Health Care Limited. He was appointed to the role in 2013 and stepped down in 2023.
The company has since gone into liquidation. His case was one of several serious offences dealt with at Leeds Crown Court last week, which also included matters relating to child sexual abuse, rape and violent crimes.
The conviction has also brought renewed attention to ZAOGA Forward in Faith and how it deals with allegations against its leaders. Up to the time of writing, the church had not released any public comment on Majoni’s conviction. It has also not commented on a separate case involving another elder, whose alleged audio clip linked to a minor in Leicester was shared widely online.
The case has revived questions about how the church has handled past misconduct by senior members. Critics cite the example of Naison Guti, brother of the late church founder Archbishop Ezekiel Guti, who remains a bishop despite a 2004 rape conviction that was widely reported.
Leeds, located in West Yorkshire, is one of England’s major cities with about 830,000 residents and a wider metro population of over 2.3 million. Majoni’s inclusion among the court’s most serious offenders this week has drawn significant local and national media coverage.
