TB Joshua courts disaster

01 December 2015 - 02:15 By Sipho Masombuka

Nigerian evangelist TB Joshua and his two contractors face possible arrest after they failed to appear in the Lagos High Court yesterday. The three are charged with criminal negligence in connection with the collapse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations' guesthouse, which killed 116 people last year.Coroner Oyetade Komolafe ruled that the church leadership be prosecuted as the six-storey building did not have planning permission.Joshua was subpoenaed to appear at the subsequent tribunal but did not show up.Nigerian journalist Chima Nwankwo said that if Joshua continued to be absent at the high court, "the trial judge may charge him for contempt of court".He added: "In that case he may be arrested on the orders of the court, detained and forcefully brought before the court."Judge Lawal Akapo voiced his unhappiness with the defendants' absence, making it clear that he would not tolerate any delays in the trial.He said: "It appears the defendants are not mindful that this is a criminal proceeding."This is a criminal trial and a sensitive matter like this one should be given an accelerated hearing."He directed the defence team to provide the court with the engineers' addresses within 72 hours and postponed the case to December 11.Eighty-one of those who died when the church's dormitory collapsed in September last year were South Africans.Families of those who perished in the accident have maintained that Joshua was not to blame for the tragedy and that the trial was the work of the devil.Phillip Mbedzi, 61, who lost his 30-year-old daughter, Mpho, a laboratory technician at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital, yesterday refused to comment, saying they would wait for the church to give them permission to speak out."I will wait for the church to notify me about the [criminal] case before talking," he said...

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