The father of an alleged sex slave has taken to the stand at the Western Cape High Court to tell the story of how he rescued his child from a Brooklyn brothel.
Months after his daughter opened up about her life at the brothel allegedly run by cousins Edward and Yannick Ayuk, the dad, who cannot be named, told the court how he sought out the Hawks in his hometown of East London.
The duo along with Edward’s wife, Leandre Williams, face over 40 charges for allegedly operating a brothel where they forced unsuspecting victims to use drugs and work as prostitutes.
According to the indictment, Leandre is accused of recruiting three women from Springbok by promising them work in Cape Town but instead, she forced them along with the Ayuks to use drugs.
During the trial, several former hookers took the stand and told Judge Alma de Wet how they were held captive in locked rooms at the house.
In his testimony, the father said his daughter came to him in June 2017 and told him that she was leaving East London with a “white man” to go and live in Cape Town.
He said she was often unreachable but when he did get hold of her, she told him she was happy.
However, three months later she called him from New Somerset Hospital, saying she had broken her leg and needed money.
He said after checking herself out of the hospital, she went back to the brothel but claimed she was kept against her will and gave him the address.
“She urgently needed help and was being held captive in a room with a locking device.”
He further explained that he went to the local police station and was referred to the Hawks. After his daughter was rescued, he came to Cape Town and filed a police statement and took her home.
However, defence advocate Bashier Sibda poked holes in the pa’s story when he pointed to a statement he had made to police at the time.
In the statement, made six years ago, the father told cops that his daughter was a drug addict who worked as a sex worker in East London to feed her habit.
Sibda questioned why, after months of being “happy”, she suddenly claimed she was being held captive, and highlighted that she had been in contact with her father on at least two occasions before she broke her leg and she could have returned home.
The trial continues.
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