NELSON MANDELA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 15: State witness Cheryl Zondi, 22, after cross-examination during the rape and human trafficking trial against controversial Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso at the Port Elizabeth High Court on October 15, 2018 in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. While cross-examining state witness, Cheryl Zondi, Omotoso’s lawyer Peter Daubermann was on numerous occasions reprimanded by presiding judge Mandela Makaula for asking unfair questions. Omotoso and his co-accused Zukiswa Sitho (28) and Lusanda Sulani (36), are on trial for numerous charges including rape, human trafficking and racketeering. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Lulama Zenzile)
NELSON MANDELA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 15: State witness Cheryl Zondi, 22, after cross-examination during the rape and human trafficking trial against controversial Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso at the Port Elizabeth High Court on October 15, 2018 in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. While cross-examining state witness, Cheryl Zondi, Omotoso’s lawyer Peter Daubermann was on numerous occasions reprimanded by presiding judge Mandela Makaula for asking unfair questions. Omotoso and his co-accused Zukiswa Sitho (28) and Lusanda Sulani (36), are on trial for numerous charges including rape, human trafficking and racketeering. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Lulama Zenzile)
South Africa rallied behind Cheryl Zondi this week, as she presented her alleged shocking ordeal at the hands of Pastor Timothy Omotoso to the court.
Zondi claims she was sexually abused by the Nigerian televangelist at his church in Durban, with Omotoso accused of grooming and raping girls in their early teenage years. The witness took to the stand on Tuesday and gave a brave account in the face of a hostile defence team.
He’s the second villain of the piece. Daubermann is representing Omotoso in court and his line of questioning has come in for some severe criticisms. Even the judge in the case – Mandela Makaula – has had to stop the attorney in mid-flow due to his badgering of the witness.
His inquiries – seemingly out of touch with the values held by many South Africans – have ruffled feathers nationwide. Here are some of the most unbelievable moments from his cross-examination of Zondi.
Good lord, this was comfortably the worst of the bunch. Daubermann asked Zondi if she knew “by how many centimetres” Omotoso had penetrated her. It has to be seen to be believed…
The line of questioning from Omotoso’s lawyer, Peter Daubermann has angered many people. Let’s take a listen to what he asked Zondi yesterday. Judge Mandela Makaula had to intervene. #OmotosoTrial #eNCANow Courtesy #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/Bp3WpyE1BO
— eNCA (@eNCA) October 16, 2018
Daubermann was either being willfully ignorant here or just plain daft. At this point, Zondi had explained the fear and hold Omotoso had over her and, like all abuse victims, walking away then telling someone what’s happened was not an available option:
“You had your phone with you? I assume you had your family and friends numbers on your phone? Did you have a Facebook account? You mean to tell me you couldn’t phone anyone for help to leave?”
Ah, that famous technique to stop a sexual predator. Just ask them nicely. Daubermann badgered Cheryl Zondi after she confirmed she never asked him to stop when he carried out these alleged attacks. It’s really not that easy, Peter, and even the judge was getting tired of it all by this point…
Zondi: I asked God Why I needed to please this man sexually to get a crown in heaven. Daubermann: I don’t understand why you didn’t ask him nicely to stop? Judge intervenes saying we have heard her response on this matter at nauseam #eNCA #Omotoso
— Sandy McCowen (@MccowenSandy) October 16, 2018
In his fierce pursuit of the witness, Omotoso’s lawyer again showed an obtuse knowledge of sexual assault. Because of Zondi’s “eagerness to please” as a young girl taken in by a charismatic authority figure, Daubermann took her “complicity” in some of the sex acts to be consensual.
Any law graduate worth their salt knows a 14-year-old (Zondi’s age when she states she was first abused by Omotoso) cannot legally give consent in this situation. That didn’t stop him, though:
“You basically consented? You didn’t protest against him? Every time you went to his room, you knew what to do?” – Peter Daubermann.
The trial will resume when two other alleged victims – Nelisiwe and Anele Mxakaza – appear in court on Wednesday.