NPA's Batohi tells MPs that her personal request to meet Omotoso's victims declined
Batohi said she wanted to tell the victims that they did nothing wrong in the testimonies they delivered during the trial.
FILE: NPA head, Shamila Batohi, appeared before Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) in Cape Town on 20 November 2024. Picture: Phando Jikelo/Parliament
CAPE TOWN - National director of public prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, said that she had personally requested to meet with the victims of Nigerian pastor, Timothy Omotoso, who was acquitted of sex crimes and human trafficking in April, in a protracted trial that lasted seven years.
However, despite having made the overture through the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission, Batohi told Parliament that the request had been declined.
Batohi came under harsh criticism before Parliament's justice committee on Friday, with at least three political parties calling for her to step down.
ALSO READ:
• NPA's Batohi defiant as MPs call for her head over botched Omotoso trial
• Batohi receives stinging rebuke in Parliament over Omotoso acquittal
• Reasonable prospect of success in appealing verdict in Omotoso sex crimes trial - Batohi
In a six-hour-long justice portfolio committee meeting, Batohi was lambasted by political parties for not directly intervening in the prosecution of Omotoso when the judge raised issues with the conduct of prosecutors.
But Batohi said she didn’t want to interfere and left the Eastern Cape director, Barry Madolo, in conjunction with her late deputy, Rodney de Kock, to make the necessary interventions.
She said the NPA didn’t want to further traumatise the victims by dragging them into an investigation before they had testified.
"It's a no-win situation, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. We would have been crucified for being insensitive to victims and proceeding with this when, in fact, we should have waited until they had testified."
Batohi said she wanted to tell the victims that they did nothing wrong in the testimonies they delivered during the trial.
"It's been devastating for the victims and I want to hear them, I want to listen, to really deeply understand how they feel the prosecutors in this matter let them down."
She said that investigations into the prosecutors' handling of the case would inform her of whether an apology was due to them.