Greg Hawkins, a former pastor in Tulsa, USA, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting and molesting a minor member of his congregation.
Hawkins had twice been arrested prior to his final arrest and warned against making any contact with the girl, but he never heeded the warning. The pastor insisted he was in love with the girl and he couldn’t stop seeing her, something that pushed District Judge to deny him any leniency in the ruling.
According to a LV Guardian report, Hawkins apologised to the court and requested for mercy, saying he’s not a threat to children and that he doesn’t have any history of violence.
The pastor pleaded with the judge, citing some of the good things he’s done in the past through his ministry. He acknowledged that he made a bad decision but said he’s not a bad person.
Hawkins also pointed out that for the last 22 months while in jail, he’s been humbled and has developed a strong hatred for sin.
Unfortunately for him, the judge showed him no mercy, slapping him with seven life sentences, which are to run concurrently. The judge also ordered that the former pastor serves at least 85% of the life sentences.
According to court documents, Hawkins started sexually molesting the girl when she was 14. The act continued until a year later when she conceived and went to the police.
Prosecutors in the case said the pastor pleaded with the girl to lie to investigators that it was her mother who forced her into prostitution.
The girl was living with foster parents who were employee members of Zion Fellowship Church, where Hawkins was pastor. This gave him access to the girl any time he wanted to. He would pick her up in the night and take her to motels and parks as well as his church to have sex with her.
As soon as the girl’s mother realized that her daughter had become pregnant, she filed a more than $1 million lawsuit against Pastor Harkins, the church and two Department of Human Services (DHS) directors as well as other DHS workers.
According to records, the pastor advised the girl to have an abortion. Hawkins reportedly told her if she didn’t report the matter and instead went for a secret abortion, he would buy her a car, a house and take care of her college education.
Blood tests conducted after the baby was born proved that Hawkins was indeed the baby’s father.
