‘premeditated’ | 

Former parson who stole over €125k from his Kildare-based church jailed

The judge said it was clear that Oduntan has sole responsibility for the church’s funds and bank accounts because he was held in such high regard by its members

Today at 18:06

A former pastor who engaged in theft and fraud to steal more than €125,000 from his own Kildare-based church has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

Ebenezer Oduntan, a former pastor of the City of David Church in Naas, Co Kildare was convicted of 87 charges of a range of theft and fraud offences following a three-week trial at Naas Circuit Criminal Court last month.

The church, which has been based in Naas Enterprise Park, Naas, Co Kildare since 2015, is a branch of the Nigerian-based Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Oduntan (58), a married father of four of Curragh Grange, Newbridge, Co Kildare had pleaded his innocence in relation to a total of 54 separate charges but admitted his guilt on 19 counts of theft, five counts of deception and nine charges of providing false information to the Companies Registration Office midway through his trial.

The naturalised Irish citizen, who works as a taxi driver, faced 73 separate counts of theft, five charges of deception and nine offences in breach of company law following an investigation by the Corporate Enforcement Authority.

As pastor of the City of David Church, he had sole access and control of its accounts between 2012 and 2020.

However, Judge Baxter noted the prosecution did not accept such an explanation as the previous month he was forced to admit to other church members that there were no funds left when they sought to provide financial assistance for a member who had lost his job and fallen on hard times.

At an earlier sitting of the court this month, counsel for Oduntan, Damien Colgan SC, his client had expressed a certain amount of remorse but did not accept the jury’s verdict.

Pleading for leniency, Mr Colgan claimed Oduntan, who had no prior convictions, had been ostracised by his community and had no friends.

Sentencing the accused, Judge Baxter said he had engaged in a substantial breach of trust and fiduciary duties through sophisticated fraud and lies which constituted “serious wrongdoing.”

The judge sentenced Oduntan to seven years in prison on the deception charges, six and a half years for the theft convictions and three and a half years for providing false information to the CRO with all sentences to run concurrently.

She also suspended the final six months of all sentences with Oduntan’s time in prison backdated to when he was first placed in custody on March 13, 2024.