THE High Court in Port Elizabeth has dismissed some of the charges against Pastor Timothy Omotoso and his co-accused.
Judge Irma Schoemann on Tuesday, 31 October dismissed 31 of the 63 charges against Omotoso and his two co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho.
Schoemann's ruling came after the trio, who are facing charges of rape, human trafficking and racketeering, among others, filed an application for acquittal under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Defence lawyer Peter Daubermann accused the state of misleading the court, claiming that former state prosecutor Nceba Ntelwa colluded to alter witness' evidence.
State prosecutor Advocate Joel Cesar, in his response to the defence motion, said the defendants' rights to a fair trial had not been violated to the extent that an injustice had been done.
Delivering her judgment, Schoemann said: "At this stage of the proceedings, I cannot find that Ntelwa's conduct rendered the trial unfair. Ntelwa's conduct was contrary to the principles required of a prosecutor. The fact that he tried to mislead the court does not make the trial unfair.
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"I'm of the view that in respect to the other charges, there was a prima facie case which the accused persons were responsible for. There was no argument to the contrary. The accused are discharged in respect of counts 4 and 4, 9 to 18, 23 to 25 and 38 to 53 and in respect of the alternative of those counts," Schoemann said.
Social Development MEC Bukiwe Fanta said: "We are so happy and overjoyed because the verdict is once again on our side. We are here as women of South Africa to support and protect our young people. People must not hide in the name of the church when they want to abuse other people."
NPA spokesman Luxolo Tyali said: "We are still confident in our case as the accused still face 32 charges. The court pointed out that the state has the opportunity to call witnesses they think should be called.
"The cases that were withdrawn are cases where the state didn't call witnesses to testify for the charges. This was because some witnesses who we were initially prepared to testify have since changed their minds and others have left the country."
The case was postponed to Monday, 13 November.
