The Supreme Court of Appeal has granted the National Prosecuting Authority leave to appeal the controversial acquittal of Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso, nearly nine years after his arrest on human trafficking and rape charges.

The court order allows the director of public prosecutions for the Eastern Division to challenge a judgment by Judge Irma Schoeman, who acquitted Omotoso and his co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho, on 2 April 2025.

Omotoso (60), the senior pastor of Jesus Dominion International Church, was arrested by the Hawks at Port Elizabeth Airport on 20 April 2017 following allegations that he sexually abused minor congregants at his residence in Umhlanga, north of Durban. He faced 63 charges including rape, human trafficking for sexual purposes, sexual assault and racketeering.

The case centred on allegations that Omotoso recruited young women and girls from various branches of his church to live in his mission house, where they were allegedly subjected to sexual exploitation. Witnesses testified that he isolated victims, monitored their movements and convinced them that sexual acts were the will of God or necessary for their spiritual or material success. Some alleged victims were as young as 13 or 14 years old when the abuse started.

After an eight-year legal process, the Gqeberha High Court acquitted all three accused of the 32 remaining charges in April 2025. Judge Schoeman ruled that the state had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, and criticised the prosecution’s handling of the case, specifically noting that the cross-examination of the accused was of poor quality.

The NPA’s legal team, led by Advocate Apla Bodlani SC and Advocate Bayethe Maswazi from the Mthatha Society of Advocates, supported by the NPA’s Advocate Joel Sesar and Advocate Mzoxolo Rusi, filed a comprehensive application for leave to appeal by invoking the provisions of section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977. These provisions allow the state to appeal a judgment by requesting the trial judge to reserve the question of law for consideration by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

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Schoeman dismissed the request for clarification of factual findings and the subsequent request for reservation of the question of law. The state then petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal directly, which has now granted the NPA leave to appeal.

Following his acquittal, Omotoso left South Africa for Nigeria. In May 2025, he was declared an undesirable person and issued a five-year entry ban by the Department of Home Affairs. However, in May this year, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi confirmed that Home Affairs agreed to waive Omotoso’s five-year entry ban should the NPA be successful in its appeal, to facilitate potential extradition proceedings.

The NPA maintains that once the Supreme Court of Appeal rules in its favour in the appeal, Omotoso can be successfully extradited from Nigeria to South Africa.

The case had faced numerous delays and legal setbacks throughout the eight-year trial period, with the state previously being acquitted of 31 other charges in October 2023. Alleged survivors publicly criticised the prosecution and the handling of the case by the justice system following the April 2025 acquittal.

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