The human trafficking trial of a woman and two men, who are accused of recruiting drug-addicted girls and women for sex work on Cape Town’s Koeberg Road, continued in the Western Cape High Court yesterday.
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Brothers Edward Tambe and Yannick Agboor Ayuk, along with their co-accused, Leandra Williams, pleaded not guilty to charges that include benefiting from the proceeds of prostitution, assault with grievous bodily harm, trafficking, rape and debt bondage.
Testifying yesterday, witness Michael “Monday” Okoye was questioned on allegations made by a sex worker that she had worked for him.
“She is lying,” he told the court, insisting that he was a mechanic and was uncomfortable even using the word “prostitute”.
Okoye said that he only knew the woman because she had stayed over in the room of a woman with whom he shared a property.
He added that while he had warned the woman living on his property about the noise levels and drinking on the premises, he was not accountable for what she got up to in her room.
He also vehemently denied selling drugs.
“Whatever the lady says, she is lying,” he testified. “Since I came to this country, I have worked as a mechanic. If you go to my place, you will see it is full of cars that I repair. That’s what I do for a living.”
Okoye has not been charged but has been brought in as a witness to test some of the evidence before the court.
The Ayuks’ legal representative, Mohamed Sibda, alleges that the brothers were set up by Milnerton police because they had reported a complaint about one of their colleagues.
Last year, the court heard the testimony of a woman who said that she was recruited in Port Elizabeth to go and work for the Ayuks in Cape Town. She testified that she was given hard drugs to prevent going into withdrawal on her trip to Cape Town.
The trial continues today.
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Picture: Cape{town}Etc Library