Nigerian pastor acquitted of rape after eight years in prison

After spending eight years in jail, a Nigerian televangelist accused of raping young women from his South African church has been found not guilty of all charges.

The accused had denied the 32 charges in a trial that was broadcast live and gained huge interest across the country.

In 2018, one witness told the court she had been raped by the pastor, who ran a church in the city of Port Elizabeth, when she was 14 years old.

When delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the judge presiding over the trial said that the pastor had been found not guilty because prosecutors had mishandled the case.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) shared a similar assessment, saying that former prosecutors in the case acted improperly and the accused were not sufficiently cross-examined by the state.

The NPA said it would now consider its legal options and that the drawn-out nature of the trial was partly down to the pastor’s filing numerous legal challenges

The pastor was dramatically arrested at an airport in 2017 as he sought to leave the country.

His trial was the first prominent rape case to be broadcast live in a country where sexual violence is rampant.

The hearings attracted huge interest and raised difficult questions about victim’s rights, impartiality, and whether justice is best served by having television cameras in courtrooms.

Following the verdict, the pastor will be deported to Nigeria, according to reports.