By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Nigerian Televangelist Timothy Omotoso has been acquitted of all rape, sexual assault and human trafficking charges after 8 years in custody.
Omotoso and his two co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho appeared in the Gqeberha High Court.
The leader of the Jesus Dominion International (JDI) Church faced 63 charges with his co-accused.
JDI has branches in South Africa, Nigeria, and Israel, with Durban being its headquarters in the country.
Sulani and Sitho were accused of having played a major role in recruiting young women to join the church and stay at the JDI mission houses in Durban where witnesses said Omotoso sexually assaulted several of them and made untoward sexual comments about them.
The accused maintained their innocence throughout the trial.
The trial has been dragging since 2018 including applications filed by Omotoso’s legal team to have the trial declared a mistrial.
Gqeberha High Court Judge Irma Schoeman handed down her judgement on Wednesday, she said the cross-examination of the accused was of poor quality and the state failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Schoeman added that the evidence of the defence was not properly tested through a proper cross examination by the prosecution.
“This matter falls in the category where in my view the explanations of the accused are improbable, and I do not subjectively believe them. However, due to the uncertainty of the actions of the State and the lack of proper cross examination, I cannot find that the accused’s version are so improbable they cannot reasonably possibly be true,” she said.
“The accused bore no onus to convince the court of their innocence. I am of the view, in light of all the circumstances of the case, that the State has not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The accused are found not guilty and they are discharged on all the charges,” the judge ruled.
After the not guilty ruling, the three knelt in the court and began to pray while supporters celebrated the outcome.
“The only thing I can say, I thank God. I thank God. I give him all praise. I am 67 by next July. I have been in prison for eight years,” Omotoso spoke to journalists moments after the court passed its verdict.
Asked Omotoso if he was considering suing the State, and he said he needed time to think.
“I think it is better for me to rest first. I have been in prison for eight years, at this age. I think we should give some time for that,” he said.
Meanwhile the Commission for the Promotion of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) has lambasted the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) after the court ruling.
Speaking to journalists at the court, chairperson of the CRL Rights Commission, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said the victims have been left disappointed and dejected.
“All we can say is, the NPA let us down. The NPA let these witnesses (the victims) down. There are hundreds, if not thousands of victims out there who were waiting to see how this case goes. If it was not a matter of not cross-examining the accused appropriately, as the judge said, then we are leaving it at the door of the NPA.
“The Hawks did their job. The witnesses told their truth, and then the NPA dropped the ball on the very last hours,” she said.
“I hope the head of the NPA (advocate Shamila) Batohi gives us answers on why she did not line up her very best here. We are looking at this thing not just as a loss of a case, but a loss of souls,” said Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.