A 46-year-old woman testifying against Rivers of Living Waters leader, Bishop Stephen Zondo, has denied trying to extort money from him.
The woman, who is the first witness in the rape trial of the preacher, claims Zondo sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was seven years old.
In her evidence in chief, she testified that Zondo called a family meeting in which he allegedly offered family members a house, livestock and R25 000 in exchange for dropping the charges against him.
Judge Mosopa rules against questioning alleged victims:
Zondo is facing ten charges in the High Court in Pretoria, including rape, defeating the ends of justice and indecent assault.
Advocate Piet Pistorius: “He says you and your brother came with one aim and one aim only and that is to extort money, and you started with one million rands that is what you wanted.”
Witness: “That is not true, because my brother is the one who said withdraw this matter and said God will intervene, but I refused and said I cannot carry this thing for 40 years and when I am close to getting justice, I drop it like that.”
