Judge turns down Omotoso’s bid to have evidence dismissed

Human trafficking accused Pastor Timothy Omotoso’s latest bid to have the evidence against him found inadmissible by the court has failed.

The 63-year-old televangelist and his two co-accused, Lusanda Sulani, 41, and Zukiswa Sitho, 33, had argued in the Gqeberha high court that the evidence the state had presented to court was obtained unconstitutionally.

The prosecution opposed the application.

Yesterday, judge Irma Schoeman said she would allow the evidence to be considered in the trial.

The matter was then postponed to December 9 for the defence’s case.

Yesterday’s ruling comes after several similar failed applications by the defence.

Omotoso had previously asked the court to make five special entries for a mistrial.

On January 16, the defence also asked Schoeman to reconsider her previous judgment to dismiss the accused’s application in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

They had brought the application for their discharge at the close of the state’s case, arguing that the state had not made out a case strong enough for them to be expected to answer to.

When that failed, the application for the evidence to be ruled inadmissible was brought.

They face 32 charges, including racketeering, trafficking in persons for sexual purposes, rape and sexual assault.

The trial has experienced numerous delays since Omotoso’s arrest in the city in April 2017.

The delays caused some witnesses to no longer want to proceed with giving evidence as they indicated they had since moved on with their lives and were not interested in reliving their trauma in court.

That led to the reduction of the charges from 63 to 32.

Omotoso, a Nigerian national, remains in custody, while his two co-accused are out on bail.

Omotoso was the leader of the Jesus Dominion International church, with branches in SA, Nigeria and Israel, and Durban as its headquarters in the country. The two women were his assistants.

The complainants were either congregants, employees of the church, or people selected to take part in church activities when they were allegedly recruited under the pretext that they would benefit spiritually or improve the quality of their lives. It is the state’s case that Omotoso directly or indirectly, through his co-accused, paid and arranged for the complainants to travel to his hotels in Durban, Israel and Nigeria.

However, once the complainants arrived, Omotoso or his assistants would allegedly inform them of the “house rules”, which included that their cellphones be switched off.

The complainants and other female church members were allegedly kept in one room. Omotoso would then allegedly select one of the complainants to go to his private bedroom where he allegedly raped or sexually assaulted them.

“The state remains committed to ensuring that this case is finalised as soon as possible so that justice is served for the victims,” National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said.