Omotoso treated us like 'things', claims witness
The state's first witness was back on the stand in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Tuesday on day two of the new rape trial of controversial Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso.
The televangelist and his two co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho have pleaded not guilty to the more than 90 charges against them, which range from rape to sexual assault and human trafficking.
The 30-year-old Andisiwe Dike continued her testimony on Tuesday morning, telling the court how Omotoso was a different person at home compared to who he was at church.
Dike said that in church Omotoso was well respected, feared, admired and treated as a hero but at home, he treated the women in his mission house as “things” to be used for his sexual pleasures.
She testified that he would not even call them by their names but instead referred to them as animals that matched their birthday months.
Dike told the court how co-accused Lusanda Sulani even instructed the girls to go to the clinic for HIV tests and provide her with copies of the results.
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Happy Hour
Dike also referred to events in the house called "Happy Hour" where Omotoso would throw sweets and biscuits in the air where they all had to jump up at the same time to catch the sweets.
"Sometimes he would rub some of the sweets on his penis and throw it in the air to see who could jump the highest to catch it," she said.
Dike said after 13 months in the house she was finally allowed to go home when Omotoso left on a trip to Nigeria in October 2016.
According to her testimony, Sulani gave her money for a bus ticket and Dike promised to return to the house the following week.
Dike went straight to East London but proceeded to visit her grandmother in Peddie to avoid answering questions about the house as she knew her mother would know that something was wrong.
She told the court how she would clean her grandmother's house during the day and drink in the evening.
Dike stopped communicating with Omotoso during this time and Sulani then informed her not to return to the house.
The 30-year-old Dike waived her rights to have her identity protected.
The trial continues.