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Cheryl Zondo to testify against rape-accused televangelist once again

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 4:45 PM by Kelly Lippke 2 min read

- Alleged sexual abuse victim, Cheryl Zondo, will once again be testifying in court

- Zondo is testifying against televangelist, Timothy Omotoso

- Omotoso faces 63 charges of human trafficking, sexual assault and rape

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Victim in the highly-publicised rape trial of Peter Omotoso, Cheryl Zondo, will once again take the stand. After a series of postponements in the case, including the case’s judge, Mandela Makaula, recusing himself, Zondo will now take the stand.

Omotoso faces 63 charges of human trafficking, rape and sexual assault.

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After Pieter Daubermann, the attorney for the accused, harshly cross-examined Zondo when she took the stand previously, he then applied to have the judge recused. Daubermann asserted Makaula displayed bias towards Zondo, Briefly.co.za found.

Many felt that Daubermann’s examination of Zondo, who had endured a traumatic experience, unnecessarily harsh. For many, Zondo’s case reflected the problems with an aspect of the country’s criminal justice system, which treats women and victims of sexual offenses poorly.

This time, the trial will have to begin from scratch after Judge Mandela Makaula recused himself.

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Zondo also spoke at a press conference on the morning of 19 March to express her views on having to speaking in court once again, reliving the experience.

She bravely said she was determined to continue her struggle with the hopes that she can save other women from going through the same experience. She also claimed there was a hit placed on her for over R50k, simply because she dared reveal the truth.

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:

Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.

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