The trial of Pastor Timothy Omotoso is set to continue in the High Court in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
The trial was postponed on Monday to allow Judge Irma Schoeman to apply her mind with regards to an authorisation certificate and the jurisdiction over some of the charges against Omotoso.
The state was unsuccessful in obtaining a new certificate of authorisation from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) after the trial was postponed last week to allow for this.
Omotoso’s defence team argued that the trial was now de novo (new trial) or has to be started all over again and that any prior certificates should not be valid.
Defence attorney Peter Daubermann says only seven of the 97 counts against his client were allegedly committed in Port Elizabeth and wants the rest of the cases to be heard in the courts where the crimes were allegedly committed.
A Port Elizabeth criminal law attorney, Kuban Chetty, says it is unlikely that the different charges Omotoso is facing will be heard in the respective jurisdictions where the alleged crimes took place as it does not make logistical sense.
“One has to look at the logistics of all this. You have cases in Sekhunda, and various other areas which jurisdiction can be confirmed. Now we are going to have out of the 97 charges including main and alternative charges or we can have five in one jurisdiction, 10 in another, 20 in another, it just doesn’t make any sense. And you not going to have the overlapping of witnessing and then coherent full logistics trial taking place in a logical manner. So I don’t think it’s going to happen. If jurisdiction is not conferred by this court, it has to go back to the court of jurisdiction.”
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