Controversial televangelist Timothy Omotoso has been refused bail in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s court today and ordered back to the St Albans Prison after staying there for more than a month following his dramatic arrest inside an airport toilet in May 2017.
The court found Omotoso to be a flight risk with no real ties to South Africa. In addition, in the event that Omotoso is released on bail, the court said, there was a strong likelihood the alleged victims would be threatened and intimidated.
Omotoso faces 22 charges related to contravening the Sexual Offences Act with two definite charges of rape contained in the charge sheet.
Dramatic scenes played out at the Port Elizabeth International Airport on 20 April, 2017. Omotoso had allegedly trafficked women and girls from various branches of his church to a house in Umhlanga Rocks, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, where they were sexually exploited.
The Nigerian televangelist is a senior pastor of Jesus Dominion International, whose headquarters are in Durban, with a Port Elizabeth branch in Govan Mbeki Avenue.
Magistrate, Thandeka Mashini, refused the Omotoso bail after various findings that concluded that he was as a flight risk.
The Magistrate said that she considered the fact that Omotoso is in South Africa illegally with no fixed property under his name.
His wife and children are citizens of the United Kingdom, and that he has international branches, which he visits from time to time.
The court heard that he is an illegal immigrant in the country and there is nothing tying him to South Africa.
The Magistrate also said she had considered the public’s view point of the case.
“The public has been crying to these crimes of Human Trafficking, Rape, and sexual assault on young girls and women which are frowned upon by the community.
“I find that the applicant’s personal circumstances are commonplace, and not constitute ordinary. They do not constitute exceptional circumstances which justify his realise on bail,” Magistrate Mashini said.
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