PORT ELIZABETH - Judge Irma Schoeman is expected to hand down judgment in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday in an application brought by the defence of rape accused Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso.
Defence attorney Peter Daubermann brought an application earlier on Wednesday to compel the State to furnish further information pertaining to the charge sheet.
Daubermann slammed the charge sheet saying it was vague and infringed on his clients right to a fair trial.
He wants the State to provide the times, dates and places of the alleged offences.
He argued that his clients, including co-accused alleged henchwomen Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho, were unable to provide alibis because of the vagueness of the charges.
But State Prosecutor Nceba Ntelwa said the defence was once again on the attack.
Ntelwa said the State provided the defence with further details at the previous trial and at the time the defence was “happy”.
“There was no application to compel. We provided the specifics they were looking for and the information we didn’t have the defence accepted,” said Ntelwa.
Ntelwa argued that from the information provided Omotoso and his co-accuser were able to build a defence.
The 58-year-old televangelist allegedly trafficked more than 30 girls and women who were from various branches of his Jesus Dominion International (JDI) church to a house in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, where he allegedly sexually exploited them.
He was arrested on April 20, 2017, by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, at the Port Elizabeth Airport. He has been denied bail on two occasions as he was deemed a flight risk. The women were arrested in November 2017 and are out on bail of R2,000.
Omotoso faces 63 main charges, including human trafficking, rape and sexual assault.
Omotoso’s co-accused, are accused of recruiting girls from all over the country for purposes of sexual exploitation.
The case was postponed until Thursday for a ruling on the application.