MADURAI: Pastor Abraham, 55, who was sentenced to death for sexually assaulting four minor girls, told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday that he intends to appeal against his conviction.

The Tirunelveli Pocso Special Court awarded him four death sentences on August 20 this year after the prosecution proved his guilt.

Abraham had set up a Pentecostal church named Rajaji Raj in Mela Ilandaikulam in 2020. He called the girls to the church on the pretext of teaching them the Bible and hymns and sexually assaulted them, including penetrative assault. The girls had not attained puberty.

Since it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the children were not attending school. He also threatened them with dire consequences if they told their parents. Two years later, one of the girls told her parents. After the mother lodged a complaint at the Tirunelveli All-Women Police Station, police registered a case against the pastor under the Pocso Act in July 2022 and arrested him.

The police subsequently filed a petition before the Madurai Bench seeking confirmation of the death sentence. The case came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Nirmal Kumar and Gunasekaran.

Abraham appeared via video conferencing from Palayamkottai Central Prison, Tirunelveli. The judges asked him whether he planned to file an appeal and whether he had appointed a lawyer.

Abraham said he would appeal. He also alleged that he was not arrested by the police but by a special team which allegedly beat him severely for two days in a coconut grove.

The judges told him that he could inform the court of any such claim through his lawyer and adjourned the case to October 16.