Sex trafficking case resumes in Cape Town court – News24

• The trial of the two men and a woman allegedly involved in trafficking women for sex, resumed in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday. 
• They are also charged with debt bondage and assault, relating to an alleged brothel off Koeberg Road in Cape Town.
• They have all pleaded not guilty.

The trial of two men and a woman accused of sex trafficking and running a brothel in Brooklyn continues in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday.

After a long break, Edward Tambe Ayuk, his wife Leandra Williams Ayuk, and his brother Yannick Agbor Ayuk returned to the dock on Tuesday to hear a new witness.

The witness, who cannot be named, is a friend of a sex worker Lucille*, who testified earlier in the Ayuks' trial that she was brought to Cape Town under false pretences and paid in hard drugs.

Lucille ran away and eventually led the police to the run-down property near the Ysterplaat Airforce Base off Cape Town's Koeberg Road.

Through tears, the witness told the court that Lucille had sought sanctuary at her house, also in Brooklyn, but one of the Ayuk brothers quickly arrived to fetch her and take her back to the alleged brothel.

Lucille's friend said she told the brother that Lucille did not want to come out, and eventually, he left, angered by the situation.

She said her landlord came around shortly afterwards too and told her not to harbour Lucille because there could be trouble, but Lucille did not want to leave.

The witness said Lucille had told her she would rather kill herself than go back to that house.

The Ayuk brothers listened intently to the proceedings while Leandra, in a turquoise turban, took copious notes.

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

Due to the unusual nature of the case, court staff who were not occupied popped in to listen to proceedings and get a rare glimpse into the twilight world that Lucille and others allege they were held captive in.

When the case sat previously, Lucille testified that she was lured to Cape Town from the Eastern Cape, with promises that her sex work career would be much more financially rewarding and with better working conditions in Cape Town.

She testified that she accepted the offer and was given hard drugs to get her through the withdrawals of the long bus trip to Cape Town. She claimed the Ayuk brothers had targeted her because she was already doing sex work and was addicted to drugs. For a while, life was good.

However, she said it was not long before things changed. She alleged that she was beaten, and only paid in hard drugs, so she had no cash to pay for a bus ticket home. She told the court she was only allowed to use the cellphone given to her to make appointments with clients, and she had to hand all her money over to the Ayuks or to their sidekicks.

The trial ended early on Tuesday so that court staff could get home early with less chance of getting caught up in taxi-strike-related disturbances. It will continue on Wednesday with cross-examination by the defence.

All three have pleaded not guilty to charges which include benefiting from the proceeds of prostitution, assault with grievous bodily harm, trafficking, debt bondage and rape.

*Lucille is a pseudonym to protect her identity in her new life.