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A televised rape trial in South Africa sparked a furious reaction after a witness – who claims to have been raped by his pastor at the age of 14 – was subjected to lengthy cross-examination and sometimes intimate by the lawyer representing a Nigerian televangelist aged 60, Timothy Omotoso, who denies the allegation.
Warning: this piece contains graphic content that may disturb some readers.
Over the weekend, Mr. Omotoso's church, in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, was forced to close its door after angry crowds besieged the building. A Sunday newspaper reported that the woman who testified against him – Cheryl Zondi, now 22 year old student – had received death threats before the trial.
The trial – the first major rape case to be broadcast live in a country where more than 100 rapes are reported daily to the police – sparked keen interest and raised difficult questions about victims' rights, impartiality and best way to serve justice: justice have television cameras in the courtrooms.
Nelson Mandela's granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela – who said in 2017 that she had been raped by a former boyfriend – is one of the many South African women to express her support for Ms. Zondi, connecting his experience at #MeToo global movement.
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Many South Africans gathered around Cheryl Zondi
Ms. Mandela explained that treating the student for three days in the witness box helped to explain why so many rape victims remained silent in a country where sexual violence was notoriously high.
Miracles and prophecies
"I really feel pain for this young woman and I am so proud to see how brave she is on the witness stand," Mandela told the South African Sunday Times newspaper.
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South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world
Mr. Omotoso and two co-defendants of Jesus Dominion International, based in Eastern Cape, South Africa, face 97 charges ranging from sexual assault to rape and trafficking. of human beings. They deny all the accusations.
The church – one of many evangelical ministries in the country, which promises miracles and prophecies to its followers – is known for its videos of young female singers in uniform, some of whom participated in the Idols SA TV show.
Since its debut last week, the nation seems to have stopped to follow the trial and social media has broken out in support and sympathy for Ms. Zondi.
She was the first prosecution witness and told the court, with great restraint, that Mr. Omotoso – citing the psalms and threatening God's wrath if she did not comply – would have repeatedly raped her a year after entering his church.
But public sympathy soon turned into anger when Omotoso's lawyer, Peter Daubermann, tried to challenge his story.
Screaming in the audience room
"You are a good actress," he says.
"I told you that you're lying about what happened to you."
"You were ready to let him rape you?
"Have you basically agreed?" he asked, referring to subsequent alleged incidents in which Ms. Zondi was an adult.
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The televangelist has a huge success among women
The South African justice system is deliberately confrontational and the lawyers are supposed to challenge the witnesses – the most famous case being arguably the explosive bickering of prosecutor Gerrie Nel with the disgraced Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius in his murder trial.
But in this case, according to the opinion of some experts and simple South Africans, Mr. Daubermann seemed to cross a line.
"How many centimeters, do you know?" he asked Ms. Zondi, after she had described how the pastor would have partially penetrated at the age of 14 years.
There was shouting and screaming in the audience room.
"How would she know that?" Judge Mandela Makaula interrupted, visibly angry.
"She could have felt it," Daubermann suggested.
"And measured at the same time? No. I will not allow this question," said the judge, who then thanked Ms. Zondi for her testimony and wished her good luck for the university exams she had interrupted to be able to attend the trial.
"It's not about you – it's about justice," he tells him.
"Cheryl has set a precedent and we can only pray that other victims will be encouraged, and we salute her," a local spokesperson for the National Prosecution Authority told reporters.
But Mr. Omotoso's defense team has since retaliated, accusing the judge of bias and asking him to withdraw from the trial.
"You have rallied to his case, you have already accepted his version," Daubermann told judge Makaula, saying the trial should start from scratch and bitterly condemn the media coverage of the case and the frenzy of social media that he triggered.
"I was vilified in the media during my cross-examination.I was accused of having adopted questionable methods of examination.It is patently false.I have to verify the veracity of the evidence.I can not allow the sensitivity of said the lawyer after being followed and harangued on the street in front of the courthouse by an angry mob.
Judge Makaula refused to recuse himself by stating, "The claim is unfounded".
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The Pistorius trial was the first to be broadcast live and fully in South Africa.
Since then, the courts have allowed television cameras to a succession of high-profile lawsuits, but if supporters claim that it is important that the people of a young democracy see the functioning of its legal system, the critics argue that the presence of video cameras is inevitable. distorts the process and exerts unfair pressure on the people involved – in the Omotoso trial, for example, to fuel xenophobic attitudes towards Nigerians.
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The preacher and his co-accused say they are innocent
Ms. Zondi, who has since thanked the public for her support, could have chosen – along with some witnesses from the Pistorius trial – to testify without the cameras spinning, but she refused to do so.
It is now expected that many other witnesses will testify against the televangelist, who had been arrested in a dramatic way at an airport last year while he was trying to leave the country.
He maintains his innocence and continues to enjoy the support of many members of his predominantly female congregation.
In court, the judge blamed his wife for appearing to be laughing and commenting on Ms. Zondi's testimony, while Mr. Omotoso himself seemed relaxed, often smiling and sporting a wide range of brightly colored costumes. that South Africans were waiting for his version of events.
What to do if you are violated:
- Go to a safe place – do it as soon as possible.
- Tell someone – the person can support you in court
- Do not wash – there may be hair, blood or sperm on your body or clothing that could be used as evidence
- If you are injured – see a doctor or health center
- Report the rape – ask a parent or friend to accompany you to the police station
- Get treatment – within 72 hours, take the pill after the pill, an HIV test, antiretroviral therapy and antibiotics to prevent a sexually transmitted infection.
Source: rape crisis
