In a high-profile criminal case centered on abuse of religious authority, a prominent former Christian leader in southern Belize has received a decade-long prison sentence after being convicted of multiple sexual offenses against a member of his own congregation.
Victor Hernandez, a pastor based in Punta Gorda with ties to the Toledo Faith Outreach Christian Center and a former head of the National Evangelical Association of Belize (NEAB), was handed down the 10-year sentence by High Court Justice Antoinette Moore on Monday, August 18, 2026.
The court proceedings confirmed that the convicted pastor carried out two rapes against the female victim at both his personal residence and private business. The third offense, a separate sexual assault, occurred on the grounds of his church — and the attack unfolded while the victim’s teenage daughter was in the same space, amplifying the severity of the violation.
Hernandez first entered a plea in the case back in 2024, when he was formally arraigned on the criminal counts. Immediately following that court appearance, the NEAB moved to remove him from his position as the association’s president, cutting ties with the disgraced religious leader as the case moved through the judicial system.
Under Belize’s formal sentencing guidelines, the three combined charges would have carried a total cumulative sentence of 22 years behind bars. However, Justice Moore issued a ruling that all three sentences would run concurrently, resulting in the reduced total 10-year prison term.
In explaining her sentencing decision, the justice noted the aggravating factor of Hernandez’s deliberate abuse of the religious trust that his congregation and the victim had placed in him — a breach of the core responsibility that comes with serving as a spiritual leader. At the same time, she also accepted several mitigating circumstances: Hernandez had no prior criminal record before this case, he is of advanced age, and he lives with multiple chronic health conditions, including a previous stroke, chronic high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes. These factors collectively led to the concurrent sentencing decision that brought the total prison term down to 10 years.
The case has drawn widespread attention across Belize due to Hernandez’s former standing as a leader of the country’s largest evangelical association, sparking conversations about accountability for religious figures who abuse positions of power to harm vulnerable community members.