Omotoso to spend another Xmas in prison
Pastor’s rape case postponed again
It will be yet another Christmas in jail for rape and human trafficking accused pastor Timothy Omotoso after his case was deferred to January.
The three-month postponement comes after it emerged in the Gqeberha high court yesterday that his petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) was still pending, and no ruling had yet been made in his quest for a mistrial to be declared.
Omotoso and his co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho, approached the Bloemfontein court to appeal against judge Irma Schoeman’s March dismissal of their application to rule a mistrial in their protracted case. It was expected that a ruling would have been made by the SCA before the matter was back on the court roll yesterday.
Senior state advocate Marius Stander said they were still waiting for the SCA ruling, which would then determine the way forward for the case.
After losing out in their application for a mistrial and for Schoeman to recuse herself, Schoeman also dismissed their application to appeal against her decision.
The trio then approached the SCA.
Defence attorney Peter Daubermann previously indicated to the court that should the SCA not rule in their favour, they would approach the Constitutional Court.
In 2021, Omotoso brought the application for a mistrial after it came to light that the lead prosecutor at the time, Adv Nceba Ntelwa, had allegedly instructed key witnesses not to testify on certain aspects contained in their original statements to the police.
Ntelwa officially withdrew from the matter in January after Schoeman found in her December judgment that he had acted inappropriately when he suggested to fellow state advocate Ismat Cerfontein – who had been assisting him in the matter – that some witnesses not testify on evidence not contained in the indictment.
Omotoso was arrested in April 2017 and has been in custody since. He has failed in multiple attempts to get bail.
Omotoso, Sitho and Sulani face a litany of charges including rape, human trafficking, sexual assault and racketeering.
They all pleaded not guilty. Sulani and Sitho are out on bail of R2,000 each.
The matter was postponed to January 17 by agreement between the state and defence.