LOWELL — The pastor of a small local church grimaced as a Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced him to 15 to 18 years in state prison for raping and abusing a young girl for a decade.

Defiant to the end, Oscar Sanchez told Lowell Superior Court Judge Robert Ullmann, “I never touched her. I never raped her.”

A jury found Sanchez, 35, guilty last month. His wife, Luisa Osario-Sanchez, 43, was found guilty of assault and battery and reckless endangerment of a child. She was sentenced to one year in jail.

Osario-Sanchez accused the victim of “manipulating the system,” yet she told her, “I love you and I forgive you.”

Sanchez and Osario-Sanchez are co-pastors of the Church of God The Holy Branch on Loring Street.

Sanchez will be on probation for 10 years, and Osario-Sanchez for five years, following their release. Both also must comply with a list of conditions, including no contact with the victim or witnesses who testified during the trial last month.

The victim, now 19, testified at trial that sexual abuse began when she was 6. Sanchez would come to her bed at night under the guise of praying with her, but would molest her. The victim lived with the couple.

During a 10-year period, the victim testified, the assaults turned to rape. Instead of protecting the girl, Osario-Sanchez would allow the sexual assaults to continue and would physically assault the girl out of jealousy, the victim testified.

In her victim-impact statement, the woman said that when she was younger she felt “uncomfortable in my own skin,” due to the abuse. She turned drugs, “self-harming” and suicide attempts “to escape the harsh reality,” she said.

It wasn’t until she was in a safe environment with her foster mother and a counselor that “the truth spilled out,” she said. She discovered her own strength and resilience, she said.

Her goal, she said, was to make sure Sanchez and Osario-Sanchez don’t do this to another child.

For more on this story see Saturday’s Sun or visit www.lowellsun.com.