Publications
- The sex trafficking trial of two Cameroonian men and a woman from Springbok resumed in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
- The defence lawyer for one of the men cross-examined a witness who alleges she was raped and not allowed to leave their house in Brooklyn, Cape Town.
- He submitted the woman was only at the house after a long night of clubbing, driving around and stopping for garage pie, and went home the next morning.
The sex trafficking trial of two Cameroonian men and a woman from Springbok resumed in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
It opened with two conflicting versions of how one of their alleged victims landed up at their "brothel" in Brooklyn, Cape Town.
The woman alleged she was raped at the house then kept against her will after arriving with a friend for some drinks.
The State alleged the trio lured drug-addicted sex workers, who were isolated from friends and family, to Cape Town, and then controlled their every move and kept their earnings.
They are alleged to have given the women free drugs to get them in the mood for working.
Jannick and Edward Ayuk and Edward's estranged wife, Leandra Williams Ayuk, pleaded not guilty to a long list of charges which include human trafficking, rape, assault, and debt bondage.
On Monday, Edward's counsel, Mohamed Sibda, cross-examined a woman, who may not be named, on her testimony that she went to the house with a friend for drinks, was raped, and then not allowed to leave.
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Sibda put it to her Edward said he first met her outside the VIP nightclub in Voortrekker Road, Cape Town, in August 2017.
He said she asked him for a lift to another club, either Tiffany's or Stephanie's, to fetch a friend.
Edward took her there and then said he needed to drop a friend called Petersen off in Melkbosstrand and said she could go with them for the ride or stay behind.
She said she would go along for the drive.
They dropped the friend off in Melkbosstrand, then fetched R1 000 from a house in Brooklyn on the way back, and stopped at a garage shop for a pie, popcorn, and cigarettes.
After that, they went to the house the State contends was a brothel.
Sibda said taking women home after a night out at a club was normal.
Edward told him his brother owned Vanilla in Long Street, and he said they did it all the time.
Sibda said when they arrived at the house in Brooklyn, a group of men were playing cards. The woman said she was on her period and went to sleep in Edward's room. She was gone by the time he woke up the next morning.
She returned at around midday a few days later.
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A group of women were standing around a car drinking from a 5l box of Namaqua wine and listening to music. However, it was awkward because Edward's girlfriend was there, so the woman left.
The woman replied that that was not what happened. And, she added, she would never have been allowed into Tiffany's to fetch a friend because she was 16 at the time and underage.
She said the first time she met Edward was when she went to his house near Ysterplaat Airforce Base with one of her friends.
They sat around drinking, and she was startled to see people injecting drugs.
She alleged the next day, one of the women from the "brothel" did not come home, so Edward took her with him to Bellville to try and find the missing woman.
She alleged he had raped her by then. She tried to run away while he was asking around for the missing woman but realised it would be futile because of her asthma.
She was eventually rescued during a raid in September 2017.
The trial continues.
