Enlightened Christian Gathering church leader Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary’s bail hearing judgement has been postponed to Wednesday.
This means that the controversial prophet, his wife and two others who stands accused of fraud and money laundering relating to R102 million from an investment scheme, will spend two more nights in prison cells while waiting to hear their fate.
The matter was heard today at the Pretoria Magistrate Court.
Magistrate Thandi Thelede said she needed more time to consider the information presented in court by the legal teams.
The state argued that Bushiri and his wife should not be granted bail indicating that they were a flight risk and they might try evade the trial.
This, the prosecutor said was because Bushiri and his wife Mary has diplomatic passports given to them by the Malawian government and most their assets including cars were owned by his prophetic channel, and they are not in his name.
The state also brought to the attention of the court, that Bushiri and his attorneys have a history of intimidating witnesses, alleging that the Prophet has one of his rapes cases against him withdrawn after he bribed the victim with R500 000.
Bushiri has his wife’s lawyer Advocate Annelene van den Heever disagreed with the state and she said her clients were prepared to abide the by the bail conditions imposed by the court and have no intention of leaving the country.
She said the Bushiri’s would appreciate the bail conditions which were set in 2019 allowing them to travel to their hotel in Rustenburg, North West.
Heever said the church leader and his wife were also prepared to post R200 000 bail if it was granted.
