The Gqeberha High Court has heard that former prosecutor, advocate Nceba Ntelwa, and the investigating officer had spoken to witnesses while under cross-examination.
This was shared by Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso’s defence lawyer on Monday.
As the court resumed for the state and defence to file arguments, advocate Peter Daubermann alleged that Ntelwa had spoken to witnesses while under cross-examination.
“The conduct of the prosecutors, in particular advocate Ntelwa, has fallen short of expected principles of fairness in court that are expected from a prosecutor,” said Daubermann.
He said his argument will focus on Ntelwa’s interference in the case and how that has affected the fairness of Omotoso’s rape trial.
“Ntelwa was part of the prosecution team. He led the evidence of nine of the witnesses,” said Dubermann.
“He also created a WhatsApp group chat for witnesses and communicated with them. I perceived it to be very unethical and informed him about this.”
He added that Ntelwa misled the court by saying he would not call the 21 witnesses to take the stand.
“Ntelwa had informed me that he would not call all of the 21 witnesses, however, he went on and told the judge that he would call all of them.
To date, he has only called 10 of the witnesses. This is one of the ways that he has misled the court.”
Omotoso, the founder of Jesus Dominion International Church, and his co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho face 62 charges including racketeering, human trafficking, rape, and sexual assault.
The Nigerian televangelist owned the church that had major branches in South Africa, Nigeria and Israel, with Durban being its headquarters in the country.
In August, numerous witnesses took to the stand and shared testimony of how Omotoso, in partnership with his co-accused, connived in countless rape incidents.
The case resumed in August after the Supreme Court of Appeal turned down the defence’s application for a special entry in terms of section 317 of the Criminal Procedure Act, where it pointed to irregularities and illegalities in the proceedings.
The trial continues…
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