A Nigerian televangelist who was accused of raping young women in his South African church, Timothy Omotoso, has been found not guilty of all charges after spending eight years in jail.
However, following Wednesday’s verdict, Omotoso will be deported to Nigeria, South African media outlet News24 has reported.
In 2018, one witness told the court she had been raped by the pastor, who ran a church in the city of Port Elizabeth – when she was 14 years old.
Omotoso had denied the 32 charges in a trial that was broadcast live and gained huge interest across the country.
However, when delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the judge presiding over the trial said that Mr Omotoso had been found not guilty because prosecutors had mishandled the case.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirming the assessment, said the “former prosecutors in the case acted improperly and the accused were not sufficiently cross-examined by the state.”
The NPA said it would now “consider its legal options” and that the drawn-out nature of the trial was partly down to Omotoso filing numerous legal challenges.
For his part, Omotoso told the media he thanked God for the verdict.
His co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zikiswa Sitho, were also found not guilty.
Omotoso was dramatically arrested at an airport in 2017 as he sought to leave the country and faced a trial that was the first prominent rape case to be broadcast live in a country where sexual violence is rampant.
The hearings attracted huge interest, and raised difficult questions about victims’ rights, impartiality and whether justice is best served by having television cameras in courtrooms.
