Trio on trial for multiple kidnappings

THREE people are on trial in the Western Cape High Court, facing charges of multiple counts of rape, trafficking, kidnapping, debt bondage and assault.

Edward Ayuk, 42, his wife Leandra Ayuk, 38, and his brother Yannick Ayuk, 32, have been charged with operating a sex trafficking ring in 2017. It is understood that the trafficking ring started operations in 2015.

The State alleges the three worked in concert to recruit a number of women for the purpose of prostituting them. The women were allegedly manipulated by the three accused to leave their homes under the pretext of finding work in Cape Town.

These women were then transported from Matjiesfontein and Springbok in the Northern Cape to Brooklyn in Cape Town, where they were sexually exploited. The State alleged that six women were victims of the trafficking ring.

According to the State, the accused abused the vulnerability of women who were unemployed, desperate and addicted to drugs. The accused saw to it that these women were supplied with drugs for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The State also alleges that the accused benefited financially from the services of women they moved to the city. They then took the money that these women made from selling themselves to unknown men. The accused benefited financially off the services of their captives as sex workers by harbouring the women and taking and living off the money that the women made from prostitution.

They also allegedly deprived their captives of their freedom by locking the house and placing unknown men to prevent their captives leaving.

Leandra Ayuk is currently out on bail, while the two brothers remain in custody.