After eight years of court appearances, arguments, and postponements, Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso and his co-accused were found not guilty by the Gqeberha High Court on Wednesday April 2, 2025.

The 66-year-old was cleared of rape and human trafficking charges among others, by Judge Irma Schoeman.

The leader of the Jesus Dominion International (JDI) Church had faced a total of 63 charges alongside his accused JDI members Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho.

Sulani and Sitho were accused of recruiting young women to join the church and stay at the JDI mission houses in Durban, where witnesses said Omotoso sexually assaulted several of them, and made inappropriate comments of sexual nature.

Those accused had maintaining their innocence throughout the trial.

Omotoso was acquitted in the Eastern Cape High Court Gqeberha–eight years after his arrest in April 2017.