A suspected rape victim gave evidence in court for more than an hour before anyone realised she was not speaking English.
The hugely embarrassing blunder took place at Inner London Crown Court where a charismatic African preacher is charged with sexual offences.
The witness - who uses a distinctive Creole native to Sierra Leone - was repeatedly told by barristers to speak more slowly and stand further back from the microphone.
Lawyers blamed her accent and the “acoustics” of the courtroom for being unable to understand her - until court clerk Christiana Kyemenu-Caiquo intervened.
She also hails from Sierra Leone and told Judge Nicholas Madge that the 38-year-old was in fact speaking Krio, an African Creole variant.
In desperation the judge swore the clerk in as an intermediary for the witness, with a new clerk replacing her on the bench.
But Kyemenu-Caiquo was barely needed as an interpreter as the witness was reduced to repeating the words, “I can’t remember”, in response to almost every question.
She was giving evidence against self-styled “Archbishop” Gilbert Deya, 61, who denies four charges of rape, one allegation of attempted rape, two of sexual assault and one of battery.
The preacher, who runs Gilbert Deya Ministries - which is said to have a UK membership of 36,000 - originally hails from Kenya.
He runs his church from a large unit on an industrial estate on the edge of Peckham, where he lives.
When the key prosecution witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave evidence, a large proportion of what she said was impossible to understand.
The woman, who was often in tears, was not offered a seat during nearly an entire day in the witness box.
The witness is said to have been abused by Deya for up to eight years and was raped by him four times, and subjected to other sexual indignities.
The case continues.
