A Rosettenville‚ Johannesburg‚ man found guilty of exploiting a 15-year-old girl is to be sentenced in the South Gauteng High Court on Friday.
Nigerian national Eke Ugochukwu‚ 30‚ was found guilty on Tuesday of the sexual exploitation of a child‚ living off the earnings of sexual exploitation‚ being an accomplice to rape and contravening the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act.
His bail was immediately revoked.
Ugochukwu‚ who admitted selling drugs to sex workers‚ appeared to be in disbelief when he was found guilty.
Judge Majake Mabesele acquitted him of kidnapping‚ child trafficking and the rape of his 15-year-old accuser.
The court heard how Ugochukwu’s victim ended up in his house after she fled from her home in Sebokeng‚ Vereeniging‚ after a fight with her mother.
The girl had accompanied her 16-year-old friend to Ugochukwu’s house. Her friend claimed he was her boyfriend‚ but the girl later discovered Ugochukwu was also the friend’s pimp.
The girl claimed to have been deserted by her friend at the Rosettenville brothel and kept there against her will. However‚ Judge Mabesele found this to be untrue‚ arguing the victim had freedom of movement.
The State had claimed the girl had been forced to remain because she had been dependent on drugs she bought from Ugochukwu‚ who she knew as Johnny‚ with the little money from her clients she had been allowed to keep. She told the court she had charged R50 a client and swould see at least six men a night.
Evidence from the teenager was that the accused as well as her clients had sex with her without her consent.
She ran away several weeks later to a nearby church where she found help.
Judge Mabesele‚ however‚ said he believed that the girl had left the brothel because she was sick and had sores on her body.
“There was no longer business because she was sick‚ ” Judge Mabesele said.
Ugochukwu had admitted to selling drugs to sex workers but denied giving any to the girl.
He denied any involvement in his accusers’ activities as a sex worker. He said he had chased the girl from the brothel when he realised she was a minor.
The case is a first of its kind under the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act‚ 7 of 2013. The Act came into effect on August 9 2015. Previously there had been no specific legislation governing this crime in South Africa.
Rosettenville child trafficker sentencing on Friday
A Rosettenville‚ Johannesburg‚ man found guilty of exploiting a 15-year-old girl is to be sentenced in the South Gauteng High Court on Friday.
Nigerian national Eke Ugochukwu‚ 30‚ was found guilty on Tuesday of the sexual exploitation of a child‚ living off the earnings of sexual exploitation‚ being an accomplice to rape and contravening the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act.
His bail was immediately revoked.
Ugochukwu‚ who admitted selling drugs to sex workers‚ appeared to be in disbelief when he was found guilty.
Judge Majake Mabesele acquitted him of kidnapping‚ child trafficking and the rape of his 15-year-old accuser.
The court heard how Ugochukwu’s victim ended up in his house after she fled from her home in Sebokeng‚ Vereeniging‚ after a fight with her mother.
The girl had accompanied her 16-year-old friend to Ugochukwu’s house. Her friend claimed he was her boyfriend‚ but the girl later discovered Ugochukwu was also the friend’s pimp.
The girl claimed to have been deserted by her friend at the Rosettenville brothel and kept there against her will. However‚ Judge Mabesele found this to be untrue‚ arguing the victim had freedom of movement.
The State had claimed the girl had been forced to remain because she had been dependent on drugs she bought from Ugochukwu‚ who she knew as Johnny‚ with the little money from her clients she had been allowed to keep. She told the court she had charged R50 a client and swould see at least six men a night.
Evidence from the teenager was that the accused as well as her clients had sex with her without her consent.
She ran away several weeks later to a nearby church where she found help.
Judge Mabesele‚ however‚ said he believed that the girl had left the brothel because she was sick and had sores on her body.
“There was no longer business because she was sick‚ ” Judge Mabesele said.
Ugochukwu had admitted to selling drugs to sex workers but denied giving any to the girl.
He denied any involvement in his accusers’ activities as a sex worker. He said he had chased the girl from the brothel when he realised she was a minor.
The case is a first of its kind under the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act‚ 7 of 2013. The Act came into effect on August 9 2015. Previously there had been no specific legislation governing this crime in South Africa.
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