The Native Iowan

A high school female student told of how a pastor asked her to take her clothes off while she sought counselling and healing from him.

The pastor, known for his radical preaching in Honiara’s streets, was from Papua New Guinea

“He first asked me to take my shirt off which I did,” the girl, 18, told the Sunday Star in an exclusive interview.

“Then he asked me to get my skirt down and that’s when I realise something is not right here,” the girl says.

She says she went to see the preacher in his room at City Motel after learning he provides counselling as well as physical and spiritual healing.

“When I learned he provides healing, I asked to see him and he gave me his mobile number to make a booking.”

The girl says because she had a health condition that she wanted to be cured, she asked her sister to accompany her to see the pastor.

“When we arrived at the motel, the pastor told me to go into his room. My sister was told to remain outside.

“Inside, he told me to sit down and started talking about all sorts of sicknesses while relating them to the bible.

“Then he deliberated on a bible verse, stressing that he will have to do as the bible says to purify and cleanse me from my sickness.”

The girl says the pastor then asked her to take off her shirt.

“Believing him, I did at his request. Then he started touching my body.

“I felt really nervous and started to question this type of healing.

“Then he asked me to take off my skirt but I refused.

“I became agitated. Then my mobile phone rang and I saw this as an opportunity to escape.

“He told me not to answer the phone but I picked it up, put on my shirt and pretended answering it as I made my way out of the room and down towards the motel lobby,” the girl says.

She says at the motel lobby a big group of girls were also waiting to see the pastor.

She says she was so affected by her experience that she decided not to talk to any of the girls outside or her sister until she arrived home.

The girl says she could not believe that a preacher who was so outspoken and active while preaching on the streets could “be so full of evil”.

“That’s the least I could expect of a pastor,” she says.

With the help of relatives, they reported the matter to police.

Police confirmed a case was opened but the PNG pastor had already left the country.

Police suspect the pastor may have sexually assaulted other girls who went to see him for counselling and healing.

The pastor is a regular visitor to the Solomon Islands and is known to many locals.