A 75-year-old South Korean pastor, Lee Jae-rock, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for raping eight female church members after telling them he was carrying out “an order from God.”

Lee who is the senior pastor of Manmin Joong-ang Church had intentionally repeated the condemnable offence 40 times in a similar manner.

Lee, 75, had “maliciously taken advantage of the victims who had absolute faith in his religious authority, and sexually harassed or assaulted the victims who were in their 20s repeatedly for an extended period and even sexually assaulting multiple victims at the same time,” according to a press release from the Seoul Central District Court.

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The victims who attended the church since childhood believed that obeying Lee as a god-like figure is the path to heaven,” the court said in its verdict.

“Apparently the victims were psychologically positioned to be powerless to disobey Lee, and Lee took advantage of their status to commit the crime.”

The court said Lee even denied “objective facts” during the investigation and had shown no regret in the courtroom. It said Lee, 75, was around 50 years older than his victims

Prosecutors had demanded 20 years in jail for Lee, who was indicted in May for some 40 incidents of sexual misconduct, including rape, against eight of his followers over several years.

“The victims believed him to be a divine being who wields divine power,” the court said.

“They would have accepted Lee’s behaviour as a divine act rather than a sexual one, and gave up questioning him thinking that it would constitute a sin.”

Accusations that Lee was abusing his power to have sex with female followers have circulated for two decades, NDTV reports.