• Rape-accused televangelist Tim Omotoso’s lawyer accused a High Court judge of irregularities during the pastor’s trial in Gqeberha on Tuesday.
• Peter Daubermann claims Judge Irma Schoeman committed “procedural irregularities”.
• This is because Schoeman refused to call previous prosecutors to the stand to testify as witnesses.

The lawyer of rape-accused televangelist Timothy Omotoso has set his sights on the presiding judge and accused her of procedural irregularities for allegedly failing to ensure he receives a fair trial. 

Omotoso and his co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho, appeared in the Eastern Cape High Court in Gqeberha for the continuation of their trial on Tuesday.

According to Peter Daubermann, Judge Irma Schoeman acted irregularly when she refused to call the prosecutors, who were previously either directly and indirectly involved with the case, to testify under oath or be subject to cross-examination.

This follows allegations of misconduct by two previous prosecutors, advocates Nceba Ntelwa and Ishmet Cerfontein.

The allegations stem from Ntelwa allegedly telling a witness not to deviate from her police statement, where she did not mention an alleged rape, although she informed Cerfontein about it.

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News24 previously reported on Daubermann’s application for a mistrial based on the alleged misconduct. 

In the previous application, he said the court had failed several times to investigate Ntelwa’s conduct, claiming there had been “prosecutorial misconduct” because Ntelwa had allegedly encouraged the witness to perjure herself.

According to Daubermann, Ntelwa “entangled” himself with the witnesses to secure a conviction.

He claimed Ntelwa created a WhatsApp group where he communicated with the complainants and that the State did not disclose this information to the defence.

Schoeman rejected the application for a mistrial and said the prosecutors would not be called to testify.

However, Daubermann lectured Schoeman about the duties of the trial court in investigating allegations of irregularities, also on the part of officers of the court, that may influence the fairness of a trial.

He told the judge it was not the duty of an appeal court to do so, and if they had to approach such a court, the case would be referred to the trial court.

“You ought to have called [the prosecutors]. It is your duty to call them [to the stand] and to investigate the instance to ensure a fair trial.

“They have a duty to explain to the court what happened. There is absolutely no reason why they should not have been called,” Daubermann said.

When Schoeman raised the question of whether Ntelwa’s conduct with the witness in question is not moot, Daubermann interrupted her and said she could not dismiss his application to have the prosecutors called to the stand “just because she feels the matter is moot”.

“You must determine if there is an irregularity [on the prosecutors’ part], not if it is moot,” he told the judge.

“Your Ladyship committed a procedural irregularity by failing to call those prosecutors to testify. The point is that now we will never know if Ntelwa also suborned the other witnesses,” Daubermann said.

“The court will never know to what extent the fairness of the trial was compromised by Ntelwa’s conduct.”

He concluded the State sought to intentionally mislead the court.

In the State’s brief reply, advocate Gerhard Wolmarans said Daubermann’s claim it tried to mislead the court was “farfetched.”

He added the allegations against the prosecutors must be based on facts and not speculation.

Wolmarans said:

Omotoso, who is the leader of the Jesus Dominion International Church, Sulani and Sitho faced 63 charges ranging from rape and trafficking in persons for sexual purposes to sexual assault and racketeering.

However, the three accused now only face 32 charges. These still include several counts of rape and sexual assault.

They were acquitted on 31 charges in October 2023 because the State had not led evidence on these charges.

Meanwhile, scores of Omotoso’s supporters gathered outside the court’s main entrance carrying a massive banner with his face printed on it.

A choir dressed in floral pink blouses, black skirts and black heels performed several church hymns while supporters sang and danced.

The public gallery was packed with supporters and members of the ANC Women’s League, who came to support the victims. 

Omotoso was arrested by the Hawks in April 2017, but his trial has faced numerous delays, including a different prosecutor and judge being appointed.

This after the previous presiding officer, Judge Mandela Makaula, recused himself in early 2019 after it came to light Cheryl Zondi, one of Omotoso’s alleged victims, had stayed in a guesthouse where Makaula’s wife had business interests.

The case was postponed to 13 February for Schoeman’s judgment.