PASTOR Timothy Omotoso and his co-accused will learn their fate on the acquittal application in October.
This comes after Judge Irma Schoemann reserved her judgment on the defence's application for a mistrial until 31 October.
On Monday, 4 September, defence lawyer Peter Daubermann made an application before the Gqeberha High Court, calling for the acquittal of his clients after the state closed their case.
Daubermann accused the state of misleading the court and alleged that prosecutors colluded to alter witness evidence.
On Tuesday, 5 September, Omotoso and his two co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho, who are facing charges including rape, human trafficking, and racketeering, were back in the dock as arguments continued in their Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act application.
State prosecutor Advocate Joel Cesar, who was replying to the defence's application, submitted to the court that the accused's rights to a fair trial were not infringed upon to the extent that an injustice had occurred.
"The state has already conceded that former state prosecutor Advocate Nceba Ntelwa led witness (Ms Msibi) evidence in chief in a haphazard and poor manner. The record shows that he also led her evidence out of sequence. This was probably the reason why he was removed from the prosecution team. He led Ms Msibi regarding the incident that occurred at a hotel in Sandton. Ms. Msibi clearly referred to the Sandton incident in her police statement," Cesar said.
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"The probabilities are therefore high that when Ntelwa drafted the indictment, he did not notice the reference to the Sandton incident in Ms Msibi’s police statement and therefore did not pursue this aspect with her when he consulted with her. He did lead her evidence in that regard at the trial, although he must have confused Ms Msibi by the haphazard and out-of-sequence manner in which he led her evidence," Cesar said.
Cesar said the record further demonstrates that Daubermann managed to cross-examine Ms Msibi extensively on the Sandton incident.
"This court, in any event, did not ultimately allow the charge involving Ms Msibi to be amended to that extent. Even the other witness (Ms Jiyana) remained consistent in her version as to what Omotoso had allegedly done to her and that she was clearly an excellent and reliable witness.
"Not only was no basis established for the contention that she had been suborned to commit perjury, but her evidence also clearly established a strong prima facie case against Omotoso.
"There is no evidence that came to light which demonstrates that Ntelwa, or any other prosecutor had attempted to suborn any state witness to perjury or had indeed suborned any state witness to perjury," said Cesar.
