A couple has been sentenced to lengthy prison terms after being convicted of human trafficking and operating a brothel.
Jude Ikenna Ijegulu, a 34-year-old Nigerian national, and his 29-year-old partner, Elizabeth Botes from Centurion in Pretoria, received their sentences in the Pretoria High Court.
In addition to their sentences, Ijegulu received two life terms for two counts of rape and an additional two years for being in the country illegally.
According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the court also ordered that Ijegulu’s name be added to the National Register of Sexual Offenders.
Lumka Mahanjana, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in Gauteng, stated that they welcome the sentences.
“From November 2016 to September 2017, the couple ran a brothel in Centurion where they kept two women. Ijegulu raped the two women, supplied them with drugs, and physically and sexually assaulted them,” Mahanjana said.
The couple also instructed the victims to provide sexual services to clients. The judge found that the couple violated the Human Trafficking Act, with Ijegulu enslaving the victims and feeding them drugs.
He said, “From November 2016 to September 2017 the two ran a brothel in Centurion where they kept two women. The man raped the two women, supplied them with drugs as well as physically and sexually assaulting them.
The couple would also instruct the two victims to render sexual services to clients. The Judge found that the two violated the Human Trafficking Act. The man enslaved the two victims and fed them drugs.”
