Robert Morris, the influential founder of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, has been sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a girl beginning when she was just 12 years old in the 1980s. The sentence is part of a 10-year suspended sentence, meaning Morris will serve jail time followed by probation, while also paying restitution and registering as a sex offender.

The victim, Cindy Clemishire, now 55, has spoken publicly in recent years about the abuse she suffered. She testified that Morris began abusing her on Christmas Day in 1982 and continued for more than four years. Her voice, silenced for decades, was heard clearly in the courtroom as she pushed back against attempts to minimize what had happened.

“Let me be clear,” Clemishire told Morris during Thursday’s hearing, according to NBC News. “There is no such thing as consent from a 12-year-old child. We were never in an ‘inappropriate relationship.’ I was not a ‘young lady’ but a child. You committed a crime against me.”

Morris’ attorney, Bill Mateja, said the 65-year-old pastor wanted to bring closure to both families. “He simply accepted responsibility for his crime from the mid-1980s and pled guilty. He pled guilty because he wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct,” Mateja said in a statement. “While he believes that he long since accepted responsibility in the eyes of God — and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance — he readily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law by virtue of his guilty plea.”

Mateja added that Morris also wanted “finality” for Clemishire and her family, saying he hopes “this plea and jail sentence coupled with probation brings Ms. Clemishire and her family the finality that they might need.”

Morris was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma. In addition to the six-month jail term, he will pay $270,000 in restitution and will be listed on the sex offender registry.

The case has also raised serious questions about Gateway Church, the megachurch Morris founded in 2000. Last November, the church announced that it had removed multiple elders after a four-month investigation revealed that many leaders had prior knowledge of Morris’ misconduct but failed to act. According to reports, some elders even knew before the allegations became public that Clemishire was a child when the abuse occurred.

Earlier this year, Clemishire and her father filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages, alleging that Morris and Gateway leaders downplayed her suffering by characterizing it as a consensual “relationship” with a “young lady.”

Morris’ legal team insists that he is remorseful. “Finally, I know I speak for Pastor Robert’s lead counsel in this case, Mack Martin, in saying that it’s been a privilege to represent Pastor Morris,” Mateja said, “and in sharing that we’re both witnesses to Pastor Robert being genuinely apologetic and sorry for his actions.”

For many Christians, the case is a sobering reminder of the deep damage caused when church leaders abuse their power and when institutions fail to protect the vulnerable. Clemishire’s statement underscores the truth that what some tried to excuse as a “relationship” was, in reality, the sexual assault of a child.

As the church grapples with the fallout, the focus remains on justice, accountability, and healing for survivors.