THE Port Elizabeth High Court has once again rejected an application from Timothy Omotoso.
A mistrial application for the frail-looking televangelist and his two co-accused, Lusanda Sulani (41) and Zikiswa Sitho (33), was dismissed by Judge Irma Schoemann on Tuesday, 13 February.
The application was submitted by defence lawyer Peter Daubermann on 29 November, after the state had closed its case.
An application was made by the defence to have the judge reconsider her previous judgment regarding the discharge application based on Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
During her ruling, Judge Schoemann only allowed the entries of irregularities about the conduct of the former prosecutor Nceba Ntelwa and his supervisors but ordered that they be dealt with at the end of the trial.
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NPA spokesman Luxolo Tyali said: “We are glad that yet again the court has dismissed this application made by the defence on behalf of the accused. Now that the court has set a date for the trial to proceed we believe that justice will be done at the end of the trial. We believe this is the step forward when the case resumes. We are hoping that the defence will call their witnesses so that the court can conclude the case."
The trial has faced numerous delays since the accused were arrested in April 2017.
"The delays caused some witnesses to no longer want to proceed with giving evidence as they indicated they have since moved on with their lives and are not interested in reliving their experiences in court. That has led to the reduction of the charges from 63," said Tyali.
Currently, the trio is facing 32 charges, which include racketeering, trafficking in persons for sexual purposes, rape and sexual assault.
Omotoso was denied bail while his co-accused are out on bail.
Judge Schoemann postponed the matter to 24 June for the main trial to proceed.
