The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s hopes of retrying Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso have suffered a blow following his voluntary departure from the country on Sunday.
Just 48 hours earlier, NPA head Shamila Batohi told Parliament’s justice committee she expected an appeal against his acquittal on sexual assault and human trafficking charges to drag on for some time.
Should the NPA be successful in an appeal, Omotoso would have to be extradited to stand trial.
Timothy Omotoso
“Yes, of course, you have an appeal process, and you wouldn’t want a Gupta scenario where a person is out of the country and you can’t proceed with an appeal.”
Those were the words of Batohi before Parliament on Friday, when asked about the impact deportation could have on applying for a re-trial.
Now the controversial pastor is back in his home country of Nigeria, complicating the NPA’s intentions of prosecuting him again.
Batohi told the committee the NPA was consulting with Home Affairs about his status before it attempted to deport him.
“It’s not a question of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. Again, the NPA is being blamed for what’s happening in a deportation process.”
She said a public outcry was to be expected about the length of time an appeal process could take.
“Given what we know about accused persons with means, these processes will go right up to the Constitutional Court, and an appeals process could potentially take years.”
Home Affairs has declared Omotoso an undesirable person, and he’s been banned from returning for five years, when he can apply for it to be lifted.
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