Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

This Brazilian healer who worked with TV host Oprah Winfrey has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for raping four women.

Healer Joao Teixeira de Faria, aka ‘Joao de Deus’ (Joao of God), has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for raping four women during his healing sessions.

According to local media, more than 300 women reported abuse cases during his “spiritual healing” sessions in his temple la Casa Dom Inacio de Loyola in the municipality of Abadiania in the state of Goias in central-western Brazil.

Teixeira de Faria had already been arrested in 2018 for illegal possession of weapons and he has been in prison since then.

He was also sentenced to four years in prison for this crime.

Judge Rosangela Rodrigues found Faria guilty of two counts of “rape through means of fraud” and two of “rape of a vulnerable person”. The judge said the only aspect which saw a small reduction in the sentence was “the fact that he (Faria) is over 70 years old”.

The inmate received permission to receive treatment for an aneurysm last March.

He has reportedly lost 17 kilogrammes (37 lbs) because of depression and he still claims he is innocent, according to reports.

Reports said that several women told how he forced them to masturbate him and perform oral sex during his therapeutic sessions between 1973 and 2018.

The healer became famous in 2012 when American TV host Oprah Winfrey visited him in Abadiania and he received around 10,000 visitors every month.

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