Further delays in the rape and human trafficking trial of controversial Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso are expected after a Port Elizabeth High Court judge ruled that the court had the authority to preside over the entire matter.
This after defence attorney Peter Daubermann for Omotoso, 60, and his co-accused Lusanda Sulani, 36, and Zukiswa Sitho, 28, contested the validity of an authorization certificate to centralise the matter to the Port Elizabeth High Court jurisdiction.
After the ruling, Daubermann immediately brought an application for leave to appeal the judge’s decision and indicated to the court that whatever the outcome of the application he would petition the Supreme Court of Appeal.
In her judgment delivered on Tuesday, judge Irma Schoeman found that in January 2018 Daubermann had written a letter to the national prosecuting authority consenting to the authorisation for the centralisation of the case currently before court.
Schoeman said there would be no advantage for Omotoso and his co-accused, who face a total of 97 charges among them, to split the case up to be heard in different courts across the country.
“Under those circumstances [Omotoso] would be in custody for years,” Schoeman said.
Daubermann had earlier contested the validity of the certificate claiming it did not contain vital information in it.
This, according to Daubermann, included specific charges the trio face and that it did not specify which indictment was authorised by the national director of public prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams.
Schoeman said that at the time Daubermann wrote the January 2018 letter it would have been unthinkable for him not to have given the indictment and notice for centralisation to his clients to see before consenting to it.
Schoeman further found that the indictment referred to in the certificate was indeed the one currently before court which she ruled was virtually the same as the previous one submitted at the start of the previous trial.
During the initial trial, which started in October 2018, it had never been contested that the Port Elizabeth High Court did not have the jurisdiction to preside over the entire matter Schoeman found.
Omotoso, Sulani and Sitho pleaded not guilty last week to seven charges for offences alleged to have taken place in Port Elizabeth but refused to plead to ones which allegedly took place in other parts of the country.
Arguments in the application for leave to appeal Schoeman’s judgment are expected to be heard on August 12.
PLEASE NOTE: An earlier version of this story indicated that the three accused had pleaded guilt to seven charges. They have, in fact, pleaded not guilty.