A self-confessed pimp has travelled all the way from Springbok to spill the beans on the alleged activities of State witnesses testifying in an ongoing human trafficking trial at the Western Cape High Court.
Vincent “Dragon” Brandt, 50, took the stand this week to testify in defence of the alleged brothel queen of Brooklyn, Leandre Williams, who has denied trafficking the witnesses, instead saying that they were already prostitutes.
The 39-year-old mother of four from Springbok is facing a klomp charges along with her husband Edward Ayuk and his cousin, Yannick, relating to a brothel they allegedly ran several years ago.
Leandre is accused of luring women from the Northern Cape dorpie to the Mother City with jobs, but instead the women were forced into a life of prostitution.
Dressed in navy pants and a black leather jacket, the towering Brandt boldly told the court that he knew several of the State witnesses.
He claimed the girls were known to him as they had used his house to smoke drugs and service their clients, calling them “liggaam verkopers” (body sellers).
Brandt said he was popular in the town and knew Leandre as the “It Girl” but says he never met her husband and does not know the Ayuks.
He claimed the witnesses smoked wit pype, tik and mandrax in his house.
State prosecutor Maria Marshall grilled Brandt extensively on Tuesday, saying that while he described Williams as a “spontaneous and good person”, he came to court to paint the witnesses in a bad light.
She accused him of changing his story and facilitating prostitution at his home, but Brandt vehemently denied this, saying not all men brought to his home had sex with the witnesses.
“There is no change in my story. Some they use for company and some they sleep with and for some it’s other business,” he added.
Commenting on one of the witnesses whom Williams claimed was not a prostitute, Brandt told the court it was his view that this woman had tried to copy the popular vrou.
“I don’t know about what Accused 2 said but I know that she wanted to be like Leandre,” he said.
“Like wearing short skirts and being the ‘Top of the Town’ and the ‘It Girl’.”
The trial continues.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za