States Cross-examination Blamed For Omotosos Acquittal

The acquittal of televangelist Timothy Omotoso and his co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho on all the charges against them by the High Court sitting in Gqeberha has led to widespread criticism of the prosecution team in the case.

The accused were facing more than 30 charges including rape, human trafficking and racketeering.

In her judgement, Judge Irma Schoeman pointed to the failure by the state to cross-examine the accused as a key reason that lead to the acquittal.

High Court attorney and NMU senior Criminal and Procedural Law Lecturer Desiree David says in the end the judge had no choice but to accept the version of events put forward by Defence Attorney Peter Daubermann.

The state had the opportunity to cross-examine, their cross examination was not very effective and the conclusion could be that they agreed with the testimony because if you dont counter it or take issue with it then it stands as correct. So, that would be one of the shortcomings with regards to cross-examination. The state should have used that opportunity to engage in a very robust examination of the accused.