Graphic details of how a 14-year-old girl was allegedly groomed into performing lewd sex acts on controversial Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso, who then prayed for forgiveness while reciting Psalm 51, emerged in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday.
The state called its first witness to testify in the trial of Omotoso and his two co-accused, Lusanda Sulani, 36, and Zukiswa Sitho, 28, who face 97 charges in total among them, ranging from sexual assault to rape and human trafficking.
Cheryl Zondi, 22, told the court how at first she was in awe of Omotoso but soon became disillusioned when she realised the sexual acts he allegedly made her perform were nothing more than predatory sexual assaults.
“He is a liar, an abuser – a predator who doesn’t care about anyone.
“He is narcissistic, thinking the world revolves around him [and] expects to be entertained [by young girls],” Zondi said, fighting back tears.
Zondi, who said she was happy to testify in open court, detailed how at 14 she became involved in Omotoso’s Jesus Dominion International church after attending a national meeting in Durban.
Originally from Secunda, Zondi said her mother did not approve of the church, claiming it was too radical, took too much of her time, and that her behaviour had changed.
She remembered seeing Omotoso always surrounded by beautiful young women.
“In my mind, they were considered an elite group and because of their beauty they were always beside him.”
Back at home, she had been approached by the appointed pastor in Secunda who informed her Omotoso had taken a liking to her and the way she sang.
Zondi said she was given Omotoso’s contact number and instructed to call and SMS him every day.
“[Omotoso] wanted to know my every move.
“He would ask about my family background, about my schooling.
“He would constantly be asking about my love life, how far I wanted to go with him, how close I wanted to be to him,” she said.
When she arrived for a national church meeting in Durban, she was informed that she would be staying with Omotoso at his home.
Zondi thought she would meet his wife and children but was instead met with 20 to 30 other young women when she entered the house.
“[Omotoso] lay back leisurely on a couch in the living room and I saw all the girls going to him on their knees and hugging him to greet him,” she said.
The following day, Zondi was told by one of the other young women that all newcomers had to have a one-on-one meeting with Omotoso in his upstairs office.
Zondi recalled the room was dimly lit with closets on either side.
On one side, she noticed a gap which led to Omotoso’s bedroom where she found him in bed, under covers, wearing an unbuttoned shirt.
She said she entered the room and knelt down beside the bed to greet Omotoso, who then instructed her to sit next to him.
Confused by the litany of questions Omotoso was asking her, Zondi got up to leave but he allegedly also got up, stood in front of her and hugged her tightly. “His hands moved around my back and he pulled on my bra strap and then he pushed me onto the bed and then he [climbed] on top of me on the bed,” she said.
“I was in such shock, I was paralysed.
“He [climbed] on top of me and started fondling me.
“He was having the time of his life, laughing while he was doing this.
“He got up when he was done, he looked at me and saw that I was upset.
“He asked me what was wrong, in his dominating voice – I was so scared I said nothing.
“He said I must come see him later that day.”
Zondi was summoned later that day back to the upstairs room, where she was allegedly instructed to join Omotoso in bed. She obeyed.
“When I got into the bed, he was busy fondling himself ... He told me to be free to do whatever I wanted to.”
Zondi said Omotoso continued fondling himself and told her to take off her head scarf as it made her look old.
He then allegedly instructed her to take off her clothes.
“I was now naked with the man I thought was a man of God,” she said.
“When he saw I wasn’t doing what he wanted me to, he [climbed] on top of me without his shorts on.”
He then allegedly sexually assaulted her. The next morning when he awoke, Omotoso prayed and recited Psalm 51 “and asked God to forgive us”, Zondi said.
“He told me I better not tell anything because a man of God can’t go to jail.”
From then on, she had accompanied Omotoso on various “crusades”.
During these trips, Zondi said, the sexual assaults continued and progressed to Omotoso allegedly forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
She alleged that the sexual assaults occurred on trips to Cape Town, Johannesburg, East London, Port Elizabeth, and even Israel and Nigeria.
“This man did these disgusting things in the name of God.”
She said she knew Sulani as the one who would allegedly organise girls for Omotoso and coach them on what to wear and how to look sexy for him.
According to Zondi, her ordeal lasted for more than 2½ years until her immediate family relocated to Gauteng.
With the help of her mother, Zondi left the church in 2013 but struggled to deal with what had happened to her.
In 2014, she attempted to take her own life after being diagnosed with depression.
Missing the friends she had made through the church band, Grace Galaxy, and singing, Zondi reached out to her former bandmates and decided to attend a church crusade in Port Elizabeth in 2015.
A ticket for her was organised by Sulani. Arriving in Port Elizabeth, Zondi was taken to a guesthouse Omotoso had hired, where she met a few new faces, including Sitho, who she knew as “Lopsy”.
“When I saw [Omotoso], I was overwhelmed with emotions,” she said.
“I expected to hear him say ‘I am sorry, Cheryl’, but instead I heard ‘I forgive you, Cheryl’ and I was overcome with emotions.”
After attending the service in Port Elizabeth, Zondi realised there was no return ticket booked for her and, instead, she was taken to Durban where she was allegedly kept in a house in Umhlanga Rocks under lock and key.
There, she was subjected to the same conditions as before – allegedly forced to perform sexual acts on Omotoso while starved and living in squalid conditions.
“[Omotoso] would eat and throw food at us and we would have to catch [the scraps].”
Images of the house’s interior shown to the court showed how young females would swoon over Omotoso, kneeling down before him.
Zondi identified bedrooms with several inflatable mattresses as rooms she had to share with up to seven others at a time.
“At some stage, [Omotoso] called us cockroaches and told us we should be thankful for what he had given us – but we were living like that,” she said.
She said recruiters in the church would identify pretty young girls and coerce them to go to Omotoso’s alleged mission house in Umhlanga Rocks.
The trial resumes on Monday.