Local cop sets precedent in High Court case
Detective Warrant Officer Gert Bronkhorst of the Nigel Detectives Branch has laid a judicial cornerstone in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on September 18, when six life sentences and an additional 129 years imprisonment was meted out against Nigerian national Edozi Obi, after he was found guilty of human trafficking and other related charges.
The sentences were delivered under the new Trafficking in Persons Act (the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act came into operation earlier this year) and follows Obi’s arrest in May 2017 after he kept three young girls hostage to work as sex slaves at a Springs house which masqueraded as a shop and a barber.
In delivering his judgement, Judge Ranchod made it clear that the court viewed human trafficking in an extremely serious light and will subsequently be met with the harshest sentences possible. The case has also been declared as precedent setter in the High Court.
W/O Bronkhorst had been at the forefront of the investigation shortly after drug kingpin and brothel master Obi was arrested at the house of horrors in 2017. Since then, the court heard evidence behind closed doors from among others, three young victims around the age of 13 and 14 that were lured from the streets by recruits (other young girls who were used by Obi).
The girls were mostly vulnerable and came from poor families and were lured to the house with promises of a better life. They testified that they did not know they were entering a brothel. Once inside the house of horrors, these girls were forced to smoke a highly addictive drug called “rocks”, which was reportedly manufactured and sold by Obi.
The girls told the court how they were taught to smoke the drug by one of Obi’s co-accused, Mahlatsi Hlatshwayo and once high on the drugs, Obi himself would sexually assault the girls “to teach them the tools of the trade” as an initiation into the sex trade.
The victims were locked up in the house for the duration of their stay, while Obi would send his workers to prowl the streets for prospective clients. They were also locked up in a dungeon under the floor of the house whenever the police raided the house.
A 14-year-old teenager was only rescued after a year, while two other victims were able to escape after a week when the police raided the house following a tip-off that the brothel master was going to move them to another premises. The girls were paid for their prostitution by means of drugs and they got hardly any food. The brothel master took all their proceeds. An expert told the court that once these girls were exposed to this drug, they were immediately hooked. He said they would do anything to get their hands on the drug. The judge referred to pictures handed in as evidence to court of the dungeon where these girls were often kept, as well as the filthy and unhygienic brothel.
In the end, Obi was convicted on 23 of the 29 charges against him and sat emotionless as Judge Ranchod told him “You were the kingpin.”
Judge Ranchod specifically mentioned the fact that Obi had used his two co-accused Mahlatsi Hlatswayo and Luke Botha. They each received a suspended sentence for the possession of drugs. Immediately after judgement was handed down, Obi filed an appeal against his convictions and sentences, but it was were turned down. The victims have meanwhile been reunited with their families.
