'They made me sit like a frog': Sex worker tells court of alleged abuse at Cape Town brothel

The accused in the sex-trafficking matter in court in Cape Town. PHOTO: Jenni Evans, News24

• The trial of two men and a woman facing charges of trafficking in people and living off the proceeds of prostitution revealed typical punishments in the brothel. 
• A woman who worked there when she was 14 alleged that if she misbehaved she would be punished. 
• She would have to sit like a frog with a glass of water on her head, or she was threatened by the men.

A young woman testified in the Western Cape High Court that she had to sit like a frog with a glass of water on her head if she did anything to annoy the men who ran the brothel she eventually escaped from.

They also threatened her to keep her in line.

“Accused-one would say to me because I am disobedient, he will let all the men in there (the house) sleep with me,” she testified on Monday.

Edward Tambe Ayuk and his wife Leandra Williams Ayuk from Springbok in the Northern Cape, and Yannick Agbor Ayuk (Edward's brother) are on trial and face charges of trafficking in people.

They pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as to charges of debt bondage; using the services of a victim of trafficking; living on the earnings of prostitution; assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm; violation of the Children's Act; multiple counts of rape; kidnapping; and dealing in drugs.

The trial has so far shown that the men are alleged to have targeted extremely vulnerable girls and women.

READ | ‘They were nice in the beginning': sex worker testifies at human trafficking trial

They selected teenagers in Gqeberha and Springbok who were poor and desperate for a job, or adults heavily addicted to hard drugs, or girls and women who had started sex work at a young age.

The girls and women were promised good working conditions, but soon discovered that they had lost all personal freedom.

A witness who had testified earlier in the case said she was so drug dependent that her boss gave her a packet of heroin for the bus trip to Cape Town, where his promise of “good money” turned into no money at all. She said he would take the money she earned, and pay her in drugs only. They shared soap and toiletries and she was allegedly either locked in the room, or not allowed to go out of the house, unless it was to sell sex.

The woman testifying on Monday is the latest witness in the case.

The witnesses, who cannot be named, was only 14 when she started working at the house just off the busy Koeberg Road.

Now 18, she ran away from the brothel three times, before finally escaping for good with the help of a relative.

Pictures presented to the court and testimony heard so far paint a picture far removed from the stylish bordellos portrayed in series or films.

Situated near the Ysterplaat Air Force Base, the ageing house with mismatched furniture squeezed into the room the girls and women worked from was eventually raided by the Hawks after one of the women escaped.

Monday's witness testified that she had to hand over everything she earned when she returned to the house after having sex with a client. Even if she did plan to keep a little for herself, it was not possible.

READ | ‘I have never been treated so badly in my life': Former sex worker describes trafficking hell

“There was no chance to not give him money, My Lady, because most of the time he will follow us in his car,” she told the judge.

She said the income she brought back for the owners varied from R100, or if she spent the night with a client, R600.

If she did not get any clients, she would have to sit in the lounge with the owners of the business and they would make it clear that they were angry with her.

She said they were also not allowed to speak to other sex workers on the street, because the boss thought they would be a bad influence on them.

Her testimony will continue on Tuesday.