Five weeks after rape and human trafficking accused Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso brought an application for bail to the Port Elizabeth High Court, proceedings were hit by another delay on Tuesday.
This comes after Omotoso’s bail application based on new facts was dismissed last week by judge Phillip Zilwa.
He found there were no new facts presented by the defence and since Omotoso was declared a prohibited person in the country the possibility of him evading his trial had become stronger.
On Monday, defence attorney Peter Daubermann for Omotoso, 62, brought an application for leave to appeal against Zilwa’s decision.
Daubermann said Zilwa failed to evaluate the evidence presented in the bail application accurately and dismissed the application mainly based on the fact that Omotoso might be deported should he be released on bail.
On Tuesday, state prosecutor advocate Zukile Mdolomba, who has been assisting prosecutor Nceba Ntelwa, argued that the new facts presented by the defence were merely filling gaps in the facts presented during Omotoso’s previous two bail applications to the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court following his April 2017 arrest.
Mdolomba said the appeal was broad and vague.
After listening to both parties, Zilwa adjourned the matter to 3pm on Tuesday afternoon for judgement.
But when court proceedings resumed, Zilwa said he had been presented with a document by Daubermann which allegedly would have a bearing on the judgement.
Zilwa said it was of the courts view that the document had to be studied in order to make a fair judgement and postponed the matter to Wednesday morning.
Omotoso and his two co-accused Lusanda Sulani, 37, and Zukiswa Sitho, 29, face 63 main and 34 alternative charges among them, ranging from rape to sexual assault, human trafficking and racketeering.
Omotoso has been in custody since his arrest while Sulani and Sitho are out on R2,000 bail each.
Their main trial is expected to continue this week after the appeal process has been completed.
HeraldLIVE
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