A Nigerian pastor charged with human trafficking and sexual assault of girls between 13 and 15 in South Africa, is also accused of carrying fake travel documents, ANA reports.
The 58-year-old pastor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is facing 22 counts of human trafficking and sexual assault.
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.
According to the testimony of investigating officer, Warrant Officer Peter Plaatjies, senior members of the church would recruit “vulnerable” girls between 13 and 15 and lure them into performing sexual acts with the pastor.
Plaatjies had told the court that the pastor’s modus operandi was the same where in each case senior church members would recruit “poor girls” with the promise that the pastor would “change their lives”.
“Pictures would be taken and interviews would be conducted, once he was satisfied with the girls’ looks, it would be arranged for them to be brought to Durban. At times there would be 40 girls in a room, [the pastor] would choose one to come to a bedroom and sexual advances would be made, each time quoting a particular verse from the bible,” Plaatjies said.
Following a foiled attempt to effect his arrest in Bloemfontein over the Easter weekend, the televangelist was arrested by men of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as the Hawks) on April 20, at the Port Elizabeth airport and has been in custody ever since.
Authorities claimed the pastor was so connected that he even had a senior Hawks official in his pocket making it possible for him to preempt investigators moves and evade arrest.
The father of three has vehemently denied allegations of sex with underage girls.
Authorities have also accused the pastor of entering South African with falsified travel documents.
Testifying on the third day of the pastor’s bail application, on Thursday, an employee from the Department of Home Affairs, Ivan Claasen, said he had found it strange that an immigration officer would stamp the pastor’s new Nigerian passport, while there was no visa details in the booklet.
According to information before court, the pastor’s old passport expires in August this year.
Claasen told the court that the department’s movement system showed that when the pastor last left the country, he had used a new passport which expires in 2021 and did so on three occasions.
“Yes, I do find it strange because [his] visa was in the old passport. The suspicion is that you scan this [new] passport but the visa is in a different passport. I need to check with officials at OR Tambo [International] Airport [in Johannesburg] if procedures were followed, if a passport is used a visa will also need to be scanned,” said Claasen.
Claasen told the court that normally when a person applies for a new passport, the old passport is taken in.
“What is strange is that the old passport has not yet expired but he is in possession of a new one,” Claasen further stated.
Claasen also told the court that it was possible to verify, through the South African embassy, the allegation that the pastor had been arrested for fraud in the United Kingdom and deported to South Africa after European authorities found his travel documentation to be falsified.
But defence lawyer, Alfonso Hattingh, denied all the allegations against the pastor.
“What hope is there? The allegation that he was arrested in the UK and deported in 2000. He has Nigerian citizenship, how was he deported from the UK to [South Africa]? Keep it in mind when doing your investigation,” Hattingh argued.
The State believes that the pastor is a flight risk and will interfere with witnesses if released on bail.
The bail hearing was postponed to May 12, for the Department of Home Affairs to verify the pastor’s travel documentation.
Crowds gathered outside the court building to support the pastor who they affectionately call “daddy”.