You Know The Prophetess Saw This Coming
The husband of televangelist Juanita Bynum pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting her, was sentenced to three years' probation and then turned to her and apologized.
On Monday, the couple saw each other for the first time in months, when Bynum appeared at Weeks' divorce lawyer's office to be deposed in that case. She said the meeting was emotional."When I saw him, it allowed me to reflect on the first time we got married," Bynum said. "I thought about the time wasted and the time lost, and I said, `This has got to stop.'"
Thomas W. Weeks III, a minister known to his followers as Bishop Weeks, turned after his sentencing to address Bynum, who sat in the second row of the Fulton County courtroom gallery."I want to apologize to my wife for all she's had to go through," he said.Bynum nodded in response and quietly thanked him.
Weeks must undergo violence and anger counseling and complete 200 hours of community service that cannot be church-related. He had been barred previously from communicating with Bynum, but that restriction has been lifted. His record will be cleared if he completes the terms of his sentence.
"I don't believe my husband is a criminal," said Bynum, a former hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist, author and gospel singer. Weeks is the founder of Global Destiny churches.
The couple wed in a million-dollar, televised ceremony in 2002 and together wrote "Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings."Bynum filed for divorce from Weeks a month after the attack, citing "cruel treatment" and saying the marriage was "irretrievably broken." Since then, the two or their lawyers have issued a series of conflicting statements about the initial incident and the couple's travails.
Details continue at BISHOP WEEKS PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULTING WIFE JUANITA BYNUM