Nigerian Pastor to apply for bail on new facts next month

The televangelist was back in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Monday, smartly dressed in a silk suit with a bible tucked into his pants.

He was initially meant to appear via a video link up broadcast from St Albans prison, but this did not happen as expected.

The pastor has now appointed attorneys from the firm McLoughlin Porter in Vereeniging.

During court proceedings, defence attorney, James Riley, said that legal counsel would be flying in to Port Elizabeth to conduct the pastor’s defense at his bail application based on new facts.

“Obviously my client is disappointed that it’s such a lengthy postponement, but this being because of the availability of the prosecutor and magistrate,” said Riley.

The pastor, who is based in Durban, is alleged to have trafficked more than 30 girls and women who were from various branches of his church countrywide. He allegedly took the girls to a house in Umhlanga, in KwaZulu Natal, where he sexually exploited them.

The Pastor was arrested at the Port Elizabeth airport in April and had been in custody ever since.

He was refused bail last month after Magistrate Thandeka Mashiyi found that he was a flight risk and was likely to interfere with state witnesses.

The bail application on new facts is set down for August 29.