A former sex worker has revealed how she piemped her pimp to the Hawks after being held hostage in a Brooklyn brothel for weeks.
The brave 35-year-old woman from East London took the stand at the Western Cape High Court yesterday where she testified how she used the cellphone given by her alleged pimp, Edward Ayuk, to get help from the Hawks who eventually rescued her from the brothel.
Edward, along with his wife Leandre Williams, and brother Yannick, are on trial for human trafficking and other crimes associated with their brothel in Brooklyn.
The trio face more than 40 charges after allegedly forcing victims to use drugs and work as prostitutes.
The witness, who cannot be named, says she met Edward in August 2017 where he promised her a better job and accommodation in Cape Town.
However, on arrival she was given heroin and rocks [crack cocaine] and forced to prostitute herself along Koeberg Road.
In her testimony, she explained how he would instruct her to hand over all the cash she made in a night and for every client she got, she was given one rock and a R50 pakkie of heroin to smoke.
She explained that after being hit by a car while walking home from a Milnerton hotel, she was taken to Somerset Hospital with a broken leg.
She says she called Edward to fetch her, having discharged herself from the hospital as she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
But she was then locked in a room where Edward allegedly demanded she call her father for money so she could be looked after as she was unable to work.
“He (father) gave me R100 and Alex [Edward’s friend] went to draw the money and took R50 for petrol. I bought one packet of heroin and then did not get anything more because I wasn’t working.”
She called her father begging him for R1000 but he refused and later, without Edward knowing, she contacted her dad again and told him she was being kept against her will.
“He said he would contact the Hawks but they only came a few days afterwards.
“The police arrived and rescued me and I was taken to a safehouse.”
She says during her time at the brothel, they were forced to stay indoors unless a client came knocking.
At night, they were sent on the streets to solicit clients or make arrangements with “phone clients”.
The woman confirmed the testimonies given by other sex workers who said they witnessed Edward mercilessly beating one of his girls with an electric cord after she tried to run away.
She also piemped Edward for jolling with one of the girls in the house when his wife was not there, adding that she only saw Williams once at the property.